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Quantum Wires

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i'll-believe-it-when-they're-conducting-my-mojo dept.

Silverlancer writes "Room temperature superconductors have often been a hallmark of far-future science fiction. But fortunately for us, they're here today, according to MIT's Technology Review. Richard Smalley, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the buckyball, is currently heading a project to produce a prototype carbon nanotube superconductor. They've already produced some wires up to 100 meters long--the only thing left to do is figure out how to produce only a certain type of nanotube, the "5,5 armchair nanotube," that conducts so well that it can be considered a superconductor."

4 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Armchair... by isny · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure that in the next 5 minutes, the "5,5 armchair nanotube" will be criticized by the armchair physicists, the Slashdot equivalent of the armchair quarterback.

    1. Re:Armchair... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      And just in case anyone wants to know what exactly, a 5,5 armchair nanotube looks like, there are some images of models here.

      They appear somewhat larger than I expected. Are they being held by nanohands, or is there still a couple of years worth of work ahead trying to miniaturize them?

  2. Re:wires... by pla · · Score: 5, Funny

    great! now i have something geekish to use for bondage with girls.

    Sure... Now you just need the girls.

  3. Re:Optical Computing versus Quantum Wires by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think it will be some supoerposition of both technologies, but once you open the datacenter door, it will be one or the other. Oh, and watch out for the dead cat.