WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Plays with Carbon Nanotubes 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.440 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.200 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, executive producer with I Heart 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.640 Radio and I love all things tech, and today we're 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.560 going to look at a tech Stuff classic episode that 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:30.560 published back in February two thirteen. This one has the 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:36.320 title tech Stuff Plays with carbon Nanotubes. Yes, carbon nanotubes 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.440 the stuff of the future that is persistently the stuff 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.200 of the future and never seems to be the stuff 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.920 of right now. I mean that's not entirely fair. We've 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.480 done a lot of work in carbon nanotubes and there's 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.919 been a lot of progress made, but it's been one 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.560 of those futuristic things for a long time now. So 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.120 let's listen back on two thousand thirteen Jonathan joined by 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:03.560 Lauren Vogelball as we talk about carbon nanotubes. First, we 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.160 thought that we would talk a little bit about why 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.679 carbon is cool, because um so so it's it's an element, 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:14.720 incredibly uh popular element here on the planet Earth. It 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.759 is way up there, it is. It is in fact, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.919 the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.479 um after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen and the second most 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.280 abundant element in the human body. Yeah yeah, we are 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.000 what is known as carbon based life forms. Yeah. Um. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.440 And all of this is made possible because carbon atoms 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.600 are these nifty little hexagons made with six electrons um. 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:42.640 They they bond very easily with one another. Actually, if 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.400 they bond in a lattice structure, which is a hexagonal structure, 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:48.400 do you have a sheet of that? So you've got 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.080 a whole bunch of carbon atoms that are molecularly bonded 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.520 to one another in this hexagon pattern. Here in the South. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:59.120 I like to call it chicken wire. Anyone who anyone 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.320 who lives in any story a rural environment who has 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.400 seen chicken wire, that's kind of what a sheet of 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.840 these carbon atoms and molecular structure look like. We call 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.880 that sheet graphing. So let's say say you've got this 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.480 sheet of graphing, which is essentially two dimensional, right, because 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.800 adams don't really have a lot of thickness to them, 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.000 so they are you're you're talking about with and length, 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.160 you're not talking about depth. And I mean that's you know, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.080 one atom thick that's thin enough to call it two dimensional. Absolutely. 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.040 So you've got the sheet of graphing. Let's say, then 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.080 you roll the graphing into a I don't know, burrito 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.960 like structure. It's not necessarily going to be filled with 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:44.640 cheesy beany goodness. You know, I kind of want a 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.120 carbon nano to burrito now. I am craving burritos like 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.320 you wouldn't believe. But but no, No, that's what we 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.440 call a carbon nanotube. You take that sheet of graphing, 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.920 this this hexagonal molecular structure of carbon, and this is 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.880 just carbon you and you roll it up and that's 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.400 carbon nanotube. But you know, carbon is kind of an 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.160 amazing thing anyway, because carbon can take on so many 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.440 different forms, right right, Yeah, I mean it's what diamonds 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.600 and graphite are both made of, and it's totally different 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.840 a little little bit. I mean, you know that's you've got. 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.160 You've got the hardest substance, the hearts, natural substance known 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.519 on Earth, right, and then you've got what you put 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:25.160 in pencils. Essential So yeah, something soft enough that paper 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:31.040 is paper, paper is its match, right right? Yeah? Yeah, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.920 So so this is something that we call allotropes. Now, 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.480 an allotrope you know, you're like, what the heck is that? Well, 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.480 if you if you've studied chemistry, you know. So I 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.800 apologize to all the chemists out there who are screaming 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.640 at me because I'm assuming they don't know what an 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.400 allotrop It's okay, I know. You know. Also, y'all can 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.960 go just get a soda for the next about So, 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:54.160 an allotrope is any of two or more physical forms 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.360 in which an element can exist. So you we have 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.600 these elements that can exist in different physical forms, and 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.400 carbon is a perfect example. Lauren was just pointing out 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.600 diamond versus versus a graph fite. So you've got these 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.240 two very different kinds of forms, but they're still the 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:15.600 same basic element. Uh well, carbon nanotubes are very similar 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.040 in that way. We'll talk a bit more about the 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:22.480 different properties that carbon nano tubes can have and why 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:26.320 they can have different properties, but we need to lead 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.880 up to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well this entire carbon 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:35.679 nanotube business was discovered in by Sumio Ijima, I believe 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:37.680 is the way that you pronounce it. Um apologies to 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:42.960 my Japanese teacher. Um. Although research into into creating these 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.640 sheets of graphine stretches back into the nineteen fifties. Um, 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.080 and all of these are there. They're actually two processes 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.240 for making them. One of them I'm not extremely familiar with, 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:53.679 and it's written all the way down at the bottom 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:55.120 of my notes, so we're going to cover that one later. 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.240 That's a wet application, the general way of making carbon 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.599 nano tubes as a RYE application, and you thermally strip 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:09.400 carbon atoms off of carbon bearing compounds. Wow, that sounds complicated, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.400 or at least violent and violent. Violent at an atomic level, 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:18.240 that is extremely violent. Yeah, and so this is well, 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.800 this is what produces these these extremely these atom thin 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.960 sheets UM that that you then roll into a tiny 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.440 tiny tube and by tiny tiny, I mean about a 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:32.120 nanometer or two in diameter UM and just you know, 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.200 just to just to recover this nanimeter is one millionth 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.240 of a millimeter, so it's one billionth of a meter, 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.839 So it's small, right, And then you at least for 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.279 the longest time, Uh, these these carbon nanotubes could be 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.520 at most about a millimeter long. Now that's changed recently, right, right, 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.280 But I mean even a millimeter long is pretty impressive 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.000 because that's that's a million times as long as it is. 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.480 Why that's I mean, that aspect ratio is incredible. I mean, 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.120 it's one of the things that really made carbon nanotubes 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.760 a fascinating thing to look at, because you're thinking, if 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.280 you're looking at the dimensions, by one dimension, this is 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:12.119 incredibly tiny, and by the other, in comparison, it is ginormous. 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.719 I mean, think about the technical term. Think if you 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:18.680 saw a bus that was a million times longer than 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.320 it was wide or or or long cat. If long 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.599 CAT were so long that it were a million times longer. 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.640 Thank you, Thank you Lauren for bringing it directly into 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.680 an analogy that is relatable to everybody. I was going 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.480 with the bus, What was I thinking? I was mostly 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:36.479 thinking I would not want to be behind that bus. 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.359 I bet they would make really wide right turns. Like 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.760 we're on we're on the internet, Okay, we if we 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:45.159 don't incorporate cats into the conversation, we're going to be fired, right, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.080 We're lost. But anyway, Yes, this is one of those 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:52.360 amazing properties of of carbon ano tubes. The other thing 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.920 that I find really interesting is that carbon ano tubes 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:00.839 will have very different properties depending up on how they 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.000 are rolled. Because it's mostly the direction of the role. 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.919 So it really is the how that those hexagons I 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:10.680 was talking about in the graphing, how they are aligned 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:15.160 in comparison to the actual role of this sheet. Uh. 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.720 And depending on how you do it, it can behave 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.520 like uh, like a metal, so a conductor, so it 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.720 will conduct electricity. But if you roll it a different way, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.080 like at a slightly different angle. And if you guys 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.480 are having trouble visualizing this, just take a sheet of 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.080 paper and roll it along the short side, or roll 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.880 it along the long side, or roll it along the diagonal. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.120 These are all the different kinds of ways you can 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.760 roll sheets of graphing and you get different properties. So 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.960 you roll it one way, it acts metallic like a conductor, 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.000 so it's conducting electricity. You roll it another way it 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.920 acts like a semiconductor, which means that in some situations 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.600 it does conduct electricity and in other situations it acts 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.520 as an insulator. This gives it an incredible flexibility as 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.880 far as applications are concerned. You can use it in 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.680 all sorts of electronic applications, which we will get to 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.480 a little bit when. Yeah, and it also depends on 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:08.080 what kind of you can roll them into all kinds 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.880 of different interesting shapes using using an atomic force microscopes 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.800 also called scanning force microscopes, which are which are things 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.520 that have these these tiny bitty little nanimeter probes on 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.040 the end of them, and you can use them to 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:25.400 basically poke around a nanotube until it's the right shape, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.920 the right shape for your process. This is pretty amazing. 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.360 I mean, we're talking about manipulating things that are just 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.320 slightly larger than the atomic scale, right, I mean, it's 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:39.160 something that's really difficult to to visualize. Now, there there 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.880 are some neat ways of kind of getting an idea 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.559 of how precise we can be these days. My favorite, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.640 we've talked about it on the Tech Stuff podcast in 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:52.160 the past. My favorite illustration is that ibm UH several 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:56.840 years ago used a similar type of microscope to manipulate 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:01.520 individual atoms to spell out I B M on a 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.200 silicon wafer. That is delightful. Yeah, so you're talking about 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.720 being able to when when we're able to manipulate individual atoms, 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.840 then obviously this is we've got this level of precision 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.080 that to me is mind boggling. I mean, it's really exciting. 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.199 But some of the other properties of carbon nanotubes is 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.319 again depending upon the way you you you roll these tubes, 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:26.400 it can be an incredibly strong material, stronger and lighter 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:30.560 than say, steal, hundreds of times stronger than steel. Yeah, 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.760 according to to to some Well, you know, here's the thing. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:40.360 There's a theoretical limit to the tensile strength of carbon nanotubes, 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.760 and then there's the limit that we've actually seen. Right, 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:50.040 and as we get better about creating nanotubes than those 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.480 two numbers get closer together. But in general, in the 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.560 experimental phase you might not see as incredible a display 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.120 of strength as you would aspect when you start running 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.680 the numbers via you know, mathe But for an example, 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:09.040 you could take a a cable that if you were 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.280 to cut the cable and look at and measure the 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.720 diameter you're talking about like a a one millimeter diameter 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:20.800 of this cable, nanotube of that size could hold approximately 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:26.240 six thousand fo or fourteen thousand pounds. And that's and 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.040 and and a millimeter, I mean, that's that's what like 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.240 like about the width of a human hair. Well, a 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:34.160 millimeter would be one millionth of a nano, one million 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.839 times the size of a nanometer. That really brings it 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.920 into perspective one million that I ruined my own joke. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.640 To be fair, I'm not working on very much sleep, right, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.440 I think I think a millimeter is about it's about 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.640 the size of a head of a pin. Actually, the 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:51.920 hair a human hair is like a few hundred thousand nanometers, 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.920 depending upon the person's hair, because human hair comes in 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:59.440 a but but yes, I mean, the point being that 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:03.319 you're talking about an incredibly thin cable that could hold 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.680 an amazing amount of weight considering the dimensions of the cable. Now, 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.880 granted again, this is theoretical, you know, when we talk 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.120 about real carbon nanotubes and the real experiences we've had, 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.560 it's a little bit different from that. But the potential 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.679 there is to build certain types of materials, certain types 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:27.199 of products using this stuff that can have fantastic properties. 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.160 And just to be clear, we're saying stronger than steel. 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.760 That's really mostly tension strength when you're talking about um 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:41.199 other types of impact. Because carbon nanotubes are hollow, they 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:45.720 can buckle. So let's say that you have just somehow 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.520 you have managed to make one carbon nanotube that's you know, 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:53.640 Lauren Height, and then you have a force impacting that 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.719 along the side of the carbon nanotube, so it's not 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.680 pulling on the nanotube, it's pushing against the side right 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.319 into the chewy center. Right. Well, that chewy center might 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.559 just buckle and the carbon nanotube bends and you think, well, 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.360 that was But it's the same sort of thing like 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.160 saying the strength of a rope. The strength of the 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.520 rope is how much weight it can pull, not pushing 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:16.280 against the rope in the middle of the middle of 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.520 the rope. It doesn't make any sense. And let's be 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.000 pulped taught, And that's a whole different version of physics 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.400 that we would need to get into right right exactly. 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.880 But but that's one of the other things to to 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.199 keep in mind is that even though it is an 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:32.360 incredibly strong material and theoretically one of the strongest materials 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:37.120 we've encountered, uh, that's only in specific use cases. It's 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.640 not like you would build a carbon nanotube wall and 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.120 it would be immune to everything else known to man, right, 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:46.760 although I'm sure there are ways you could do that, 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.600 like maybe with some sort of woven fabric made out 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.880 of carbon nanotubes, but an individual carbonanitude it's not the case. 0:12:55.040 --> 0:13:05.080 Let's take a moment to thank our sponsor, and now 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:10.120 we'll return to our regularly scheduled tech stuff podcast. Alright, so, um, 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.760 so there are there are many many applications that these 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.800 nanotubes can be used for. Like, like we mentioned before, 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:20.200 their engineers are looking at incorporating them into building materials, 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.600 perhaps for vehicles. I mean, imagine if you had a 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.840 vehicle that was six times lighter than than the cars 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.400 that are running around today, right that and that. If 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.440 you're wondering why you would want a light car, one 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.640 reason is that it means that you don't have to 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.120 use as much fuel to push that car around. A 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.600 lighter car means less work for the engine to do. 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:40.880 If if the engine has to do less work, it 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.640 theoretically needs less fuel. So we could end up with 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:50.120 cars that are still gas powered but end up requiring 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.520 far less fuel have greater efficiency. Or we could of 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.080 course use it in other like hybrid cars and you 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.360 know you're again you're placing or even electric vehicles or 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.240 something like this airplane or yeah, yeah, there's some great 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.800 airplanes would be fantastic because, as anyone has pointed out, 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.080 if you're talking about someone who's who's green conscious and 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.120 they're trying very hard to live a green friendly life style. 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.120 They basically need to avoid airplanes entirely. One flight on 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.480 a plane and you have just like you know, you're 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:24.000 essentially erasing any good you're doing with your entire green 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.920 life at home. And that's that's just a hard reality 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:31.800 of what it takes to move. Yeah, so that's a 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.640 great example. You actually pointed out something else. A future 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.680 use of this technology could be something that we did 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.680 an episode of tech Stuff about a few years ago. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.560 Space elevators. Space elevators. Yeah, these are these are really 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.240 nifty things. If you guys have not heard of this, um, 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.600 you you should have by now, you're a bad tech 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.160 stuff listener. But that's okay, because you can fix that. 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:58.120 I still love you, Yes, yes, no, No, I just 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.760 I had to. I had to moderated of Facebook thread 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.080 the other day. I am being the social media here. 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.920 It has stuff works. I'm if people are are being 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.000 jerks on Facebook, they I'm the one who has to 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.800 clean it up. So don't be jerks on Facebook, y'all. Um. 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:18.480 It's a very special episode of tech Stuff, But no elevator, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.600 space space elevator. No, well, I mean, okay, the point 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.440 of my story here, I've start started to stutter. Excellent. Um, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.000 the point of my of my story was that you 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.440 shouldn't be a jerk on Facebook. Now, No, I had 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:32.400 a point. My point, well, let me let me let 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.080 me at least explain what space elevator is. How about that? 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.840 Because I'm dying here, I can I can at least 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.320 give it a shot. So let's say. Let's let's say 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.640 you put an object into orbit, stationary orbit around the Earth. Okay, 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.880 so it has to be uh, it's the object is 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.000 sort of a counterweight, essentially, So you've got a counterweight 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.080 orbiting the Earth, and the thing connecting the counterweight to 0:15:55.280 --> 0:16:00.640 Earth is a very strong cable, and you use the elevator, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:05.440 which is essentially attached to the cable, to transport in anything. Really, 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.040 it could be people, although cargo would be a lot 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.400 easier than people, because with people you gotta worry about, 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.840 I don't know, keeping them alive and stuff, moving them 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.720 to Yeah, I guess if we're moving dead people, it's okay. 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.040 So if we want to have a space cemetery out there, 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.360 I wouldn't mind that, except that I actually plan on 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.680 donating my body to science fiction. Uh so the the Yeah, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.960 you have an elevator that has this counterweight out there. Okay, 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.400 you're just pick up that. Now I'm with you. I'm 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.880 with you, and keep going so the elevator can travel 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.160 up the cable. The the nice thing about this is 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.480 the based on this design, you might be using things 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.200 like lasers to actually power this elevator. Uh. The elevator 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.240 wouldn't have things on it like thrusters, like rocket thrusters, 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.680 the way we would with a a traditional rocket ship 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.120 to get stuff into space. It would mean that it 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:59.000 would take uh less energy in theory to deliver payloads 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.800 to utter space. You wouldn't have to worry about problems 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:07.119 like uh catastrophic failure when you're talking about propellants that 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:11.960 can be incredibly dangerous under the wrong conditions. And also, 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:13.520 I mean, just like we were saying, if you if 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.680 you take one airline flight, you're basically erasing the entire 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:18.600 good that you've done on your carbon footprint all year. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.480 You know, the cost of launch in terms of fuel 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:26.359 and and just people and manpower is is ten thousand 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:30.480 dollars per pound. That's per kilogram that's a bunch. So 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.119 you've got you've got this need to find a cheaper 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.240 way to get stuff into utter space if in fact 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:38.960 we want to do that thing that which we do, 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.800 I mean I do, yeah, because there's lots of fascinating 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:45.600 stuff out there. So space elevators are a good way 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.240 of doing that. But one of the problems is that 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.480 how do you create a cable that's going to be 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.560 strong enough and small enough to make this a reality? 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:57.520 And carbonano tubes might very well be the way that 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:01.520 we solve that problem. Now, for a long time everyone said, okay, 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:05.680 well here's the barrier, the barriers that we've got. We've 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.720 got this exactly. Yeah, yeah, we can make carbonano tubes, 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.040 but there are a millimeter long at most, and so 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:13.479 we don't have to make a whole bunch of them 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:17.160 and tie the ends together teeny little bows in order 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.600 to make a big, long one for the cable, but 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.920 relatively ineffective. Yeah, so we'll get into some some new 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.240 forms of manufacturer that have made that less of a problem. 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.479 But even now we're still talking about this is science 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:35.040 fiction as far as we're concerned. It's it's feasible, but 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:39.159 not possible. Given our technology right now, right now, But 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.480 there are other applications that we could use carbonanotubes and 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:47.040 including things like, uh like conductive plastics, So we can 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:52.639 make electronics out of plastic materials and run carbonano tubes 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:56.760 through the plastic, creating them a conductive layer, so that 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.399 you can actually make products even small more than they 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.399 are today. So instead of having a casing that is 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.040 covering up the electronics, the casing would be part of 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.520 the electronics. You could have you know, a credit card, 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:13.240 thin smartphone. Yeah, yeah, that would that would turn More's 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.440 law right on its point he had. Yeah, yeah, there's 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.400 some pretty neat stuff that could potentially happen. We also 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:22.360 could have things like smart fabrics, so clothing that could 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.040 have carbon nanotubes in it that might do things like 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:29.640 monitor conditions like it could it could end up powering 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.400 various sensors. This would obviously be very important in uniforms 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:38.000 like space suits or first responders outfits for things like firefighters, 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.240 things like that, you know, things that that could benefit 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:45.080 from this. But even from a more consumer standpoint, we 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.960 could even have I don't know, like clothing that tells 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:49.760 you how active you are and whether or not you're 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.080 getting enough exercise and don't even have to put on 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.359 a speedometer a little Nike fit wristband, right, you'd be fine. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.760 You just you know, you put on your clothing, and 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.800 that tells you or may say things like, for Heaven's sake, 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:07.360 wash me. You know that that goes out to everyone 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.919 I went to college with. There other clothing applications. I mean, 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:14.399 maybe not so much for daily use, but but carbon 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.040 antotubes could be used to create some really terrific body armor. 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.280 Oh yeah, sure, yeah. Again, we're talking about the incredible strength, 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.159 and if it's woven the right way, you're talking about 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:27.760 something that could have a great applications for anyone who 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.119 might be in military or law enforcement to provide a 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.600 level of protection that is really unheard of at this point. 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.960 I mean, we've got some great technology out there to 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.840 keep people protected, but this would be a step of 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:44.280 a huge step above that. Hey guys, twenty nineteen, Johnathan again, 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:46.320 you know the one you hate, because it's time for 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:56.240 us to take another quick break. Part of the problem 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.680 here is that we're talking about a material that's still 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.840 a little challenging to manufacture, especially in mass quantities. But 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:10.639 there have been improvements in carbon nanotube manufacturing processes very recently. Yeah, actually, 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.000 I'm we were, we were, and you know, we're recording 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.280 this in early January, UM two thousand and thirteen. And 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:19.520 actually just today the Internet told me that, um that 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:24.040 Rice University has announced a macroscopic hundreds of meters long 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:29.200 mass producible carnin carbon nanotube thread. Yeah, this is this 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.200 is incredible news because again, before we were talking about 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.760 nanotubes that were a millimeter long, and that was considered huge. 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:41.000 Now we're talking hundreds of meters. That is such an 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.240 enormous leap that it it boggles my mind. And it's 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.879 all through this this wet method that they used to 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.800 manufacture carbon nanotubes. Yeah, wet spinning method in which, um, 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:53.920 and I'm sorry, I'm going to read this directly from 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:55.879 my notes, which is probably a terrible thing to do, 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:58.879 but in which clumps of nanotubes are dissolved in a 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.639 bath of some acid stuff squirted through small holes to 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.080 create long strands, and then the strands are wound into 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.320 a big spool until they dry out. That's pretty incredible. 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.080 So really, the way I understand that is that we 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.920 have dissolved the carbon nanotubes until they're essentially a liquid. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:20.520 You put them into what is essentially a nozzle, you 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:23.840 squirted out in what is essentially like a giant icing 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.160 thing where your favorite kind of cake, and you get 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:31.080 this long string of carbon nanotube. That's exactly the way 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.280 you wanted to be until you get that, you spoil 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:36.040 it up and there you got You got a hundreds, 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:38.960 hundreds of meters long carbon nanotube. Yeah, it's it's the 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:41.520 thickness of a human hair. Um uh And and not 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:44.400 like I was saying earlier that you know, that's that's big. 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:48.440 That's a bunch of a bunch of h space things 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.920 measurements of stuff. It's much much larger than say, you know, 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:57.000 a single carbon nanotube would normally be you know again 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:00.320 one billionth of a of a meter in die ameter. 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.720 It's larger than that. Yes, And there there's a video 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:06.760 and on the Internet of an LED lamp being both 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:10.480 suspended and powered by this thread, right, so so that 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:16.280