Slashdot Mirror
Camera Flashes Kill Nanotubes
Fnordmonger writes "New Scientist is running a story claiming that flash photography can cause nanotubes to explode. Basically , the carbon absorbs heat, which cannot be dissipated. Instead, the energy is released in an explosion. There is a cool video there of the stuff going off."
So we've build this elevator to space....but nobody can take a picture of it. :P
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
how am i supposed to serve MP3s off of my nano-computer with all those strobe lights going all the time?
dammit!
Ohhh...
upon actually reading the article(something i sometimes do before i post...) i see that they are considering taking advantage of this for the construction of uber-cool nono-circuits....
so maybe my strobe lights can be PART of my MP3 disco computer... cool. it's a great time to be alive!
lysergically yours
Can it destroy nanorobots that the government put in my body against my will?
This could be a cool way to make a simple sealed emergency fire starting device for survival equipment companies...
Think about it.. get a pile of wood and twigs, set device in middle press button, get away..
Oh wait... a bic lighter might be a better idea...
nevermind
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Researchers around the world are exploring the potential that carbon nanotubes could have for a wide range of super-strong materials and nanoscale circuits.
I can see the highway dept completing their fancy new bridge across the Tacoma Narrows with super strong carbon nanotubes. A week after opening, Priscilla wants a picture of her two darling munchkins standing with the beautiful black bridge. She snaps a photo...and BAM!!! the whole thing goes up in smoke.
Read the story: multi-walled tubules are unaffected. It is my understanding that any use of construction would likely make use of multi-walled ones for strength.
Actually, this is quite a story. Here's a quote that might interest you:
"Because it's the only carbon material that exhibits this ignition property."
Carbon doesn't normally do this. In the right circumstances, it is flammable, sure, but never explosive.
The speed of time is one second per second.
hell, in space, ANY direct sunlight will do it. Of course, the trick is to then coat the space elevator with some kind of paint. Perhaps Dorito, Pepsi and Duracell ads painted up and down the sides of the elevator will bring in the needed revenue
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
I thought that too, but fortunately, it only effects monowalled nano-tubes. Other varieties don't go boom. Which means they shouldn't buy monowalled ones for the space elevator.
IMarvinTPA
Trusting software vendors is no smarter than trus
This is a more positive development than the headline implies. First, since double-layer nanotubes won't break, they now know how to keep them working if needed, and second, this now allows them to have a trigger action to set things in motion during complex sequences.
:-)
Personally, I'd like to see Milton Bradley take advantage of this and update Mousetrap. Turning the crank woud now release the ball, causing the little man to land on the flash button, breaking the nanotube and releasing the mousetrap. Of course, setup would just suck.
If the tubes are loaded with deuterium & tritium, of He-3, could this be useful for small scale fusion?
Wait a minute... I thought the carbon nanotube dissipated REALLY well. Wasn't there an article here on Slashdot about them being superconductors? Don't superconductors move heat really easily? I didn't read the article, but this struck me as odd. Does the article explain this?
Besides, I thought carbon nanotubes were supposed to be even greater than sliced bread, concidering these:
They work as semiconductors
They can make a molecular computer
They can kill friction
and on and on and on.
"...At the end of the day"..."when everyone goes home, you're stuck with yourself." RIP Layne Staley
This isn't news. Bart found this out when he visited Itchy and Scratchy Land and fought robots powered by nanotubes
This is significant because most photochemical reactions have poor quantum yield. This may lead to some highly efficient solar cells, photo catylists or sensors.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Thank God, the next time Wil Wheaton makes another nano-lifeform there will be a way to defeat it ;)
You shank my Jengaship!
"This'll make a great blow-up!"
...for the nanomodelling industry.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
I guess this is how The Simpsons killed all those robots in the amusement park.
"Look Dexter, I got a new camera, isn't it cooooool??"
*-FLASH-*
"Dee Dee, You are a geeeniuuuuss!"
Novel theory: Modern Man evolved from psychopath
...that Disney is destined to rule the stars.
I mean, look at their progression: Disney Land, Disney World...
It's pretty clear where they're headed.
"Please keep all parts of your body inside the vehicle at all times, for your own safety from moving parts and hard vacuum. No flash photography is permitted."
AMD's C4 Featuring a new nanotube superconducting core.
Extream case mods have graduated from hobby to a high risk sport lauded in Mountain Dew commercials.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
There is a cool video there of the [Nanotube explosion] going off.
And with those words, you killed the site.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Firstly, only the single sided tubes exhibit this behavior. So building things out of multiple sided tubes is still viable. Next, they absorb the light of the flash because they are black, but can't dissipate the heat out fast enough when there are a number of them bunched together because the heat from one nanotube gets absorbed by another, and so on. Think of it like dissipation interference.
If bad puns were like deli meat, this would be the wurst
Ding! Close but no cigar...
!!! Light causes chemical reaction !!! It's a burst of intense light energy, absorbed by the tubes, that trips the rapid exothermic reaction (BANG).
Plus, take a flash picture of coal or graphite; they'll just sit there like a lump.
"Remember, any tool can be the right tool." -- Red Green
"...and we present to you: the Beanstalk!" *Flash*pop*flash*pop*crack*boom*CRASH! ... ...
YOU MANIACS, YOU BLEW IT UP! YOU BLEW IT ALL UP!"
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
Or how about simple everyday lightning?
Another possible application of this property would be in the field of solar energy. Since the nanotubes absorb light energy more efficiently than they dissipate the heat, it seems like an excellent material for all sorts of solar applications. Remember only the single walled nanotubes explode.
To attach small pads with nanotubes in museums where photos with flash is prohibited...
Didn't know either huh?
Boy, they could have really used this on the Enterprise when Wesley stupidly let his Nanites get loose in the Evolution Episode.
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
A nano-tube is what you get when you start with a bucky ball, split it in half, add carbon atoms between the hemispheres to build a cylinder with a hemisphere at each end. that would be a Bucky-tube. Taking the hemisphere's off then end will make an open Bucky-tube.
You could also take a one atom thick sheet of carbon atoms (graphite is multiple layers of these sheets) and roll it so that one edge bonds to the other edge. This would give you a tube of arbitrary radius. An open Bucky-tube is a special case.
Further trivia, a bucky ball is a sphere of 60 carbon atoms formed in a shape similar to a socker ball.
-Rusty
You never know...
Everyone's talking about space elevators with the nano tube technology, but, I thought they were supposed to use Bucky Tubes.
Maybe they're the same thing =\
Web sites are like single-layer nanotubes.
/. editors feel like DDOSing a website they just flash a link to it on the front page. :-P
Whenever the
Way to go guys. You just blew up New Scientist.
Also, humans might need frequent "decontamination" by flashing lights (LEDs have been used for therapeutic benefit in today's technology--one example) into the body and then re-introducing the "good" nanos through a pill.
Diamond Age Summary
Diamond Age Review and audio sample
I'm working on getting the MPEG mirrored too.
They still don't know why they others don't go boom. So there is still hope ;-)
what you all seem to be forgetting about the article is that is says only single walled nanotubes that are bunched up together will explode. if you take a picture of nanotubes on their own, they wont. so you still can use singlewalled nanotubes in stuff, just not when they're buched up
Probably not very fast, but: another mirror.
Quick: A Carbon Nanotube is a molecule of Carbon in the shape of a tube, a few nanometrea across and possibly infinitely long.
Helpful: Carbon Nanotubes are a varient of buckminsterfullerene. Molecules of which are made of 60 carbon atoms in a sephircal arrangement (like a british (soccar) football). Their exetremely tough, and have great potential for drug delivery and lubricant applications. Carbon Nanotubes split the fullerene molecule in half and extend it with a cylinder of carbon atoms. Another way to think of them is by imagining a rolled up sheet of grphite and capping the ends. Some pictures might make things clearer.
Nano is the next step from micro, current microchips are in the 0.1 micrometre range, this is the same as 100 nanometres. Carbon nanotubes are only a few (ie less than 10) nanometres across.
The article discusses single walled nanotubes, the other varient is multiwalled nanotubes, which are simply many nanotubes wrpped in layers - like a telescopic radio ariel. The potential of carbon nanotubes lies in making lots of them long and all in the same orientation, then we have a rope stronger than diamond (think space elevator strong). Also they might be used in nano scale electronics.
Hope that helps
Alex
That would mean that native americans had invented nanotubes ?
"Quick, destroy the evidence!"
"How?"
"Take a picture of it!"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...when aliens kidnapped then-presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and stored them in a cylindrical glass casing.
"What the hell is this... some kind of nanotube?"
The neutrality of this sig is disputed.
This is a good reason why some people should not be allowed in porn films...
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Here's a thought: if the nanotubes are so efficient at absorbing light, is there a way to build them such that the heat could be effeciently drawn out of them in order to provide power for a turbine?
Or, in English, could you use these things to make ultra-powerful solar panels?
Mirror of the MPEG is here: flash.mpeg
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Just a futher thought, the nanotubes in the article explode beacuse they're so effective at absorbing light, and because they have an extremely large surface are to mass ratio. Perhaps coating the tubes in a layer of aluminium a few atoms thick would solve the problem. The tinfoil inductry will be happy.
Alex
First, there was Fire. Later on came gunpowder. Later than that came C4, Gelignite, and all the other Things That Make You Go Boom.
Now we've got exploding nanotubes. I suppose the next big thing will be BuckyBombs.
You may now groan, throw rotten veggies, etc.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
I thought you were just happy to see me.
Hmmm...cool I guess...though to me it looks more like someone missed the toilet.
alt.binaries.fetish.scat.nanotubes?
it's true. my walls are covered with studio portraiture of lumps of coal and graphite.
:wq
Buy trying to take the picture in the lab, this kid found out something more important then all the researchers developing this. And may have saved us from some nasty things.
Can you imagine if this was found out -after- this stuff was rolled out into general use?
I can see it now...
"Welcome to the Daytona Airshow! The newest, most advanced fighter in the world, with the first carbon nanotube body!"
"Wooo! Quick, take a photo!"
*FLASH*
*FIZZLE*
*CRASH*
"Oh shit..."
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Perhaps coating the tubes in a layer of aluminium a few atoms thick would solve the problem. The tinfoil inductry will be happy.
Just a thought...but why would the Tin Foil industry be excited about the use of aluminium? (I know they are usually made by the same company but that's beside the point)
Hey mods: don't you think this article has enough comments marked *funny*? The signal to noise ratio -- even for slashdot -- is in the crapper. Maybe consider not modding stuff down that really isn't funny or better yet find something with real content to mod up.
I wonder if the energy release is enough for single-sided nanotubes to be used as explosives. If for nothing else, this is definitely a nifty device for a way to ignite a fuse or something.
--Speed 3: Gone in a Flash--
Everybody stay calm! There's a bomb on the camera. If the little flash button is held for more than 3 seconds, the bomb is armed. If you take a picture....the bomb will detonate.
I could also see this (if nanotubed were cheap to come by) as being a good thing for campers. Need to start a fire? Get some kindling, logs, your nanotubes and a flashbulb and you're ready to go!
Another really neat thing I'd like to see this being used for: Self-destructing computers. When the machine receives the self-destruct command, it flips the switch on the flash and POOF! it's gone.
In a related story...
The MPAA and RIAA are proposing that all hard disk platters be fabricated from carbon nanotubes with an overhead photoflashe builtin -- along with the exclusive right to control over that flash.
That'll show those damn pirates and "hackers"...
-Turkey
-Turkey
Someone once said that great discoveries in science are not followed by an expression of 'Eureka, I found it!', but rather by an expression of 'Hey, that's not supposed to happen.... hmmmm... that is interesting though... I wonder what would happen if....'
I love these types of discoveries.
I'm in my right mind and I have the answer to everything!
Don't you think it is flashed only at the surface? So that there _IS_ a gradient.
That would be true for the nested tubes (which, as I understand it, don't blow up).
But for the single layer the "surface" is all there is. They are, after all, only one atom thick. And since atoms are the bottom as far as heat is concerned (or at least, they are about as far down as you can go with the classical concept of heat) their isn't really a difference between the "surface" and the "inside".
You can't have a carbon atom that's hot on one side and cold on the other, and more than you can have an integer that's even on one side and odd on the other.
-- MarkusQ
I dont normally respond to offtopic comments, but that comment hit on a pet peeve of mine.
I dont think the military or police should have guns either. I mean here in Seattle the police shoot unarmed black men all the time. Which is a bit disturbing. Also what about oppressive governments? Then again, having guns allows for events like the one you described.
One shouldnt declare a solution to a complex issue without really thinking about it from all sides. Rarely are social issues that simple.
Good place to start if looking into nanotubes--for fun or profit!
It would probably have been better if I wrote:
:).
:)
Perhaps coating the tubes in a layer of aluminium a few atoms thick would solve the problem. The tinfoil inductry will be happy
It was only an inane comment
Alex
I understand this is silly and no big deal. But wouldn't the aluminium foil industry be happier than the tin foil industry? Just a thought (even thought they are the same industry for all intensive purposes the same product...except for material). Don't take it too seriously.
Quick: A Carbon Nanotube is a molecule of Carbon in the shape of a tube, a few nanometres across and possibly infinitely long.
Helpful: Carbon Nanotubes are a variant of buckminsterfullerene. [godunov.com] Molecules of which are made of 60 carbon atoms in a spherical arrangement (like a British (soccer) football). They're extremely tough, and have great potential for drug delivery and lubricant applications. Carbon Nanotubes split the fullerene molecule in half and extend it with a cylinder of carbon atoms. Another way to think of them is by imagining a rolled up sheet of graphite and capping the ends. Some pictures might make things clearer.
Nano is the next step from micro, current microchips are in the 0.1 micrometre range, this is the same as 100 nanometres.
Carbon nanotubes are only a few (ie less than 10) nanometres across.
The article discusses single-walled nanotubes, the other varient is multi-walled nanotubes, which are simply many nanotubes wrapped in layers - like a telescopic radio aerial. The potential of carbon nanotubes lies in making lots of them long and all in the same orientation, then we have a rope stronger than diamond (think space elevator strong). Also they might be used in nano scale electronics.
Hope that helps your spelling
John
They found out about this before they sold super futuristic clothes out of this. Imagine what would have happened if this hadn't been discovered until someone tried to take a picture of junior! I know, slim chance it would have made it that far without a picture being taken of it, but still...
Luckily, it's only a specific type of nanotube that's vulnerable. The double walled ones are supposedly not vulnerable to this problem. I would still like them to test it against ultraviolet and infrared flashes, and x-rays (imagine going to the dentist's office and catching fire!).
BlackGriffen
As for oxygen in the carbon nanotube interior - there is no oxygen in the interior, as these were described as closed (capped) carbon nanotubes, which are formed under inert (non-oxygen) atmospheres.
This is what the article said: (emphasis mine)
The initial popping noise is generated by the heating of the oxygen inside and between the tubes, which causes a shock wave.
Then after that it says:
When the researchers tried the experiment in the absence of oxygen they found that the tubes were transformed into different nanoscopic shapes, some reminiscent of cone-shaped "nanohorns".
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
They renamed the mpeg file probably to save bandwidth. If you go to:g s/nan oflash/
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/sub/Pressim
And download the 5.2 meg file and renamed it you can watch the video. Personally, I found it to be unexciting.
Hey maw! Bring out tha Polaroid!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
OK, who's the troll that snapped a flash picture of their web site? Seems the thing has exploded and is no longer up.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Ah I see the source of the confision now, I didn't mean tin the metal literally. I used tinfoil as a generic term meaning thin-metal-film-widely-used-in-food-preperation-an d-often-made-of-aluminium, it's a UKism I think, or maybe just a alexwillmerism.
Alex
Having been caught by the local grammar police more than once in my time, usually for a typo that looked like a grammatical error, I thought I'd post in kind.
That should read "for all intents and purposes".
Thus concludes this rare contribution by me to the ranks of the grammar police.
You could've hired me.
Point taken, and in an odd way thankyou. In fairness most of those are typos rather than thinkos, but still '7/10 Let down by spelling' would be appropriate. I hadn't realised that I'd made quite that many mistakes to be honest.
:).
As my user bio now says:
Yes my touch typing sucks that bad.
Please in smeg's name don't correct this post as well, my ego couldn't take it
Has it occurred to no one that they may just be very shy and don't like having their picture taken? Maybe it's just blushing that got carried away...
-------------
An object at rest cannot be stopped!
I understand what you meant and I know you didn't actually mean the metal tin. I was attempting to be witty. Oh well, work was boring when I initially posted...I blame it on that.
That should read "for all intents and purposes"
Really? Wow. I guess you really do learn something everyday.
"I don't trust goats," --To Catch a Spy
I was one of the first to say it wasn't a problem. Please check your times before modding redundant.
Grr.
Trusting software vendors is no smarter than trus
The next level of pornography: clothing that is invisible when you take a picture of it! Ladies can be walking around normally, and then the paparazzi jump out and disrobe them with an innocent-seeming camera flash, and everything goes downhill from there. Story at eleven.
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
Further trivia still: the University of Arizona has a tribute to the finding of the Bucky Ball in its Biological Sciences (now named after some guy) building.
Must be some use in a nano-size reactor that heats to 700C while shooting its contents and anything on its surface into the air.
If you have two tubes next to each other unzipping into a hornlike shape simultaneously, you'd think there would be some neat shockwaves happening. Certainly something is forcing air out quickly.
Not to mention that titanium dioxide (white paint dye) is a lot bigger than carbon. I think it's a better idea to tie a lot of nanotubes together and then paint that, once it's gotten thick enough to deal with directly.