Carbon Nanotubes: Helpful or Hurtful
What is a carbon nanotube?
A type of carbon in the form of a fullerene with
each carbon atom bonded to three others in a hexagonal shape.
Can be single or multiwalled
Can be one to fifty nanometers in diameter and
can be up to hundreds of nanometers long.
They have the highest strength-to-weight ratio of
any known material
How were carbon nanotubes discovered?
1959- Roger Bacon took the first pictures but
still unclear of what they are
1985-Richard Smalley and Robert curl discovered
buckminsterfullerene and proposed that carbon nanotubes grew from
“buckyballs”
1991- Sumino Iijima took high magnification pictures of
carbon nanotubes while examining carbon
soot
What are applications of carbon nanotubes?
Hydrogen Storage
Medical
Electrical
What are downsides of carbon nanotubes?
Health Concerns
Cost
A type of carbon in the form of a fullerene with
each carbon atom bonded to three others in a hexagonal shape.
Can be single or multiwalled
Can be one to fifty nanometers in diameter and
can be up to hundreds of nanometers long.
They have the highest strength-to-weight ratio of
any known material
How were carbon nanotubes discovered?
1959- Roger Bacon took the first pictures but
still unclear of what they are
1985-Richard Smalley and Robert curl discovered
buckminsterfullerene and proposed that carbon nanotubes grew from
“buckyballs”
1991- Sumino Iijima took high magnification pictures of
carbon nanotubes while examining carbon
soot
What are applications of carbon nanotubes?
Hydrogen Storage
Medical
Electrical
What are downsides of carbon nanotubes?
Health Concerns
Cost