Diamond Nanotubes Created

raxxy writes to tell us that researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne Nation Laboratory have taken the next step in nano development. Combining the process for 'growing' diamonds and the latest in carbon nanotubes has given birth to a diamond-nanotube composite. From the article: "Diamond has its drawbacks, however. Diamond is a brittle material and is normally not electrically conducting. Nanotubes, on the other hand, are incredibly strong and are also great electrical conductors, but harnessing these attributes into real materials has proved elusive. By integrating these two novel forms of carbon together at the nanoscale a new material is produced that combines the material properties of both diamond and nanotubes."

Comments

Wow!!

[ki4iib]

Dude! Diamonds AND nanotubes!!! That's like, pirates AND ninjas!!!!!

Thus, we result in...

[Trip Ericson]

Dinotubes.

Thank you, I'll be here all next week.

What better way to spend 99999months salary?

[Thedeviluno]

This is a nano diamond ring, you cant see it but will you marry me?

Re:Tubes

[ectizen]

with modern technology that could be solved, either by altering the rotation of the Earth or the orbit of the Moon

I am intrigued by your notions of "modern technology" and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

I'm unimpressed.

[MAdMaxOr]

Congratulations. You can do vapor deposition of diamonds, and you can do vapor deposition of carbon nanotubes. So can everyone else. You can do them both at the same time? Interesting. Too bad you can't control the process beyond the ratio of nanotube to diamond.

What about average tube length? Alignment? Bonding with the diamond? Anything beyond what you'd get if you mixed extremely fine diamond powder and nanotube powder, mixed and compressed? Guess not.

However "Ultrananocrystalline(tm)" sure sounds cool. Maybe the innovation is in the buzzword.

IHABSCP (I have a B.S. Computational Physics)

Re:I'm unimpressed.

[sld126]

Step one. See if you can do it.
Step two. See if you can control it.

Each step is significant. Computational Physics isn't quite like REAL physics, is it? It's easier to do something on a computer than in real life.

Re:nano this, nano that, but no REAL nano products

[MAdMaxOr]

I happen to love how chemistry has been rebranded as nanotechnology. My favorite example is stain-resistant Dockers.

Re:How can you make 20 years salary last forever..

[Black Parrot]

Maybe she'll settle for a tubular zirconia.

Transcript of discovery

[mpn14tech]

First Scientist: Hey! You got nanotubes in my diamonds! Second Scientist: Hey! You got diamonds in my nanotubes!

Re:Space elevator

[Daniel Dvorkin]

The space elevator is a fantasy (etc.)

Good thing you're so much smarter than all them fancy-pants scientists and engineers with their high-falutin' PhD's and book-learnin' working on that damn-fool idea! If they just listen to you, they'll stop wasting their time!

Re:Tubes

[DoraLives]

don't know how we could increase pi, are you sure that's possible?

Why hell, I bet I could increase pi up to a couple of hundred if I felt like taking the time to do it right. Just go ahead and insert those diameters in the circumference and then pin them off and then just beat the living hell out of the remainder of whatever diameter is still hanging out there until it by god just goes on in. With a big enough beater, and enought time, and who knows, maybe a torch kit or something, I'm pretty sure I could work things out to get pi to most any old number you might want.