Slashdot Mirror
World's Largest Nanotube Model
darthpenguin writes "A group at Rice University has completed building the world's largest Nanotube model. Rice University is a leader in this revolutionary field involving nanotubes and buckyballs, which have the potential to revolutionize certain areas of science. The completed model, a full 360 meters in length, has been accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records."
A group at Rice University has completed building the world's largest Nanotube model.
Someone ought to call the kids over at Rice University and let them know they're working in the wrong direction....the whole point of nanotubes is that they're supposed to be small.
Seriously, though, shouldn't these kids be working on something other than trying to get into the Book of Records? Like, perhaps, doing work with actual nanotubes?
The completed model, a full 360 meters in length, has been accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Wow...what's the category? World's Biggest Waste of Time ?
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I bet my giant miniature poodle would love to play on this thing. I hope it isn't so big that really big small aircraft might hit the side of it.
Isn't this an oxymoron? Enough for the first post
-Palal
On a fiber by fiber basis, nanotubes are very fragile. However, in large bunches they are stronger than any other material currently available.
I'd love to see how they manage to mass produce these things. Such a production ability brings the vaunted "space elevator" closer to reality.
... World's tallest Midget.
Maybe they can get another entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest /. effect...ever.
The revolutionary field of making gigantic models? :)
Fnord.
Any remember when a GWR actually MEANT something? Now seems like they'll give a record to any borderline unique PR stunt...
TODO: Something witty here...
"Seriously, though, shouldn't these kids be working on something other than trying to get into the Book of Records? Like, perhaps, doing work with actual nanotubes?"
They could roll the world's smallest joint.
...and here I was expecting a story about biologically modified rice...
(speaking of which, what is with slashdot and tier 1 universities? caltech, mit, carnegie mellon, etc, etc on the front page this month alone)
If they can just build more of these things, and stack them on top of each other, they'll have made a space elevator, one that will be that much strong than one made of real nano-parcticles!
DBA? Software Engineer? My company is hiring! Click
It's just about pulling together as chemistry geeks. Most of the world's monuments were largely about this. Partially the local religion, but mostly "look at this fucking thing we built."
That's a valuable thing in and of itself. The actual thing doesn't have to then be useful.
You could suggest they do a charity instead, but that wouldn't necessarily pull them together. You can't just force people to enjoy the same charity.
You might want to look at what human beings are like sometime.
Is not about doing anything useful or revolutionary, its about getting your name and your institution's name printed in whatever publications you can.
Rice is a relatively small university in the middle of South Texas. I guess instead of doing something relevant in science, they decided to do something for play and get it in Guiness and call it scientific research.
"The revolutionary field of making gigantic models? :)"
Now there's two words normally not found together. "Gigantic", and "Model".
"Now modeling the Houston Astrodome, Miss Texas.".
They never meant anything. You were just young. There are comics going back to the 60s about people making the world's largest noodle stack to get in the book. It's always been ridiculous.
Tell these science nerds they can keep their nanotubes and buckyballs to themselves.
nanotubes and buckyballs
I bet their wives tease them all the time.
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
Thanks for demonstrating the worlds worst first post.
Ok, sure, but what about the worlds smallest nanotube model?
it could have been "." or just some random crap. Maybe it was the worlds latest first post?
It would have been truly impressive if they tried making it out of nanotubes.
"Rice is actually on the leading edge of nanotechnology research... Here is one professor's (Richard Smalley, Nobel Prize winner) list of papers: list."
"Mr Richard Smalley, formally known as 'Inch High, Private Eye' could not be located for comment. Investigaters are presently combing the carpet for him, and have called in an expert to help."
...by 359.99999999 meters.
"Think carbon fibre, materials made out of carbon nanotube mesh would be the strongest in existence..."
One could make some serious bras out of that.
To keep it from being boring, they put a tiny spaceship inside!
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
Oh, I thought... you know what, nevermind.
I'm a signature virus. Please copy me to your signature so I can replicate.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:gBFfSbPB4CEJ
Wow, if just the model is 360m long, imagine how big an ACTUAL nanotube must be!
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Most schools use their sports programs to get positive PR. Rice is doing their PR off of some very solid and useful research that happened on campus. Got a problem with that?
That would be an Oxymoron, Good Sir.
Ah, Gr. 9 English, what a catalyst for enlightenment you served as.
I'm a signature virus. Please copy me to your signature so I can replicate.
Wow, you didn't even read the Slashdot Summary.
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
The site's fried, but Rice University has an image of it (along with some guy's head) on their front page.
http://www.rice.edu/nanotube04222005.jpg
pfft. how bout getting a nanotube that long instead of this pointless exercise?
World's Latest First Post!
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
ok. In all honesty -- it really wasn't that big of a
waste of time. We (the students -- undergrad
students who don't have the knowledge of doing
this sort of research) were asked by the coordinators to sign up to build the tube.
Mind you, we did this on a Friday when most of us don't
work hard anyways (especially those silly Academs).
OK. Admittedly, I did not partake in these festivities as I was busy with other more important things,
but for the people who had the time to do it, I'm sure
it was a bonding experience and I'm sure they had a blast. Plus they got free t-shirts...yum.
Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb...
I got your world's largest nanotube right here....
Guiness Book Of World Records!!!! A Scientific Authority if I've ever seen one LOLOL
Rice University? Don't they have better things to do, like put a coffee can exhaust and a spoiler on a Honda civic?
The thing took one morning to build. It was mainly a get-together for the chemistry department and a chance to get pizza and t-shirts. Much of the cutting-edge carbon nanotechnology research is being done at Rice - search a bit on Google Scholar. Not to mention some of these kids have been making the calls in Washington on the details of the NNI...
I am excited about grid carbon structures, but it looks like they are going to be very "sticky" toxins, extremely small amounts will cause build ups in animals and humans. Not to be all John Titor-y about it, but this one ain't going to turn out good.
I have an image of a guy running around with one of these big nanotube models stuck to his back yelling, "get it off! get it off!"
Everytime I hear "nano", I think of how far ahead of its time "Mork and Myndy" was.
rofl- I would mod you up if i could
What's biotech got to do with this? Nanotubes are ANYTHING but organic. (OK they got carbon yeah, but you get the point).
/. add a "nanotech" topic, for once? And use a nanotube picture as the icon. There we could deal with nanotubes, nanotransistors, quantum dots, yadda yadda yadda.
Shouldn't
Though... I can't help... but wonder... wasn't the competition-at-large about building the smallest of something?
Akarsz Magyar Gentoo fórumot? Akkor
Waste of time? Haven't you been keeping up-to-date on the Space Elevator? And how we need a nanotube that is miles long to complete this? Once we figure out how to make sheets and other objects made from Nanotubes, it will change everything, from strong and lighter materials for vehicles, buildings, computers, even the medical sciences.
Nanotechnology is the "next great scientific revolution" and nanotubes are the forefront right now in their practical applications.
I would read up on it before you comment.
That's pretty cool. I always wanted to build a nanotube (megatube?) with those silly ball and stick molecule kits you play with in intro chemistry, but they never come with more than 15 carbons. One time a bunch of my friends and I pooled together a couple kits and made a bucky-tube, but the teacher wasn't that impressed. He already knew we were nerds and was just worried about us getting the right number of carbons in each kit when we took it apart.
... it doesn't look anything like Heidi Klum...
Dog is my co-pilot.
"You know, it's things like this that make me want to move to Canada."
"Oh, they've got one too, but half of theirs is French!"
- Sam & Max
Isn't the construction of a nanotube repeating? Why stop at 360m? Couldn't they just add sticks to the end? Did they run out?
I'm sure it's not quite as simple as just adding more carbons, but I'm sure it's not incredibly difficult (in a modeling sense, that is).
"Macrotube"????
Doesn't that just make it... a Tube?
It's a trap!
I did another completed model, a full bridge of 666 Kilometers in length using carbon nanotube and titanium.
Would be my model accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records?
gigananotube?
Buckyball model?
:)
I've just built the worlds largest model of the earth...
We're all standing on it...
"Yes, it's a perfect scale model of the universe's largest bottle. I put a tiny spaceship inside to keep it from being boring."
PhD. Hubert J Farnsworth
You can't handle the truth.
... and that space elevator will become reality.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
She weighs 845 lbs and still looks anorexic.
But, uh, my blog has no pictures, so you'll just have to take The Onion's word for it...
I'm serious. Is it made of lego or something? I mean, given what the PDF says - and as a physicist can I just say how goddam fucking sexy these nanotubes sound in a practical sense - I just can't understand why you would WANT to make this model.
:-D
Can anyone shed any light on it? What does it show us, because from the description we have a long tube made up of repeating C-60 type patterns of molecules?
While I understand the concept of making it so big because they can, they must surely have started from a practical beginning where a model was of some use. But like a garden hose (say) a section 10cm long is surely as useful for judging what it can do as one 1m long?
Sorry, I'm probably just being thick. Can someone give us a 5, Informative post on these things?
> but for the people who had the time to do it, I'm sure it was a bonding experience
Considering what they we're doing, I'm pretty certain that they we're getting at least some bonding experience.