Buckyballs Polymerized To Form Buckywires
The trick to connecting two buckyballs together is by using a molecule of 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene in between. Repeat the process and you get a line of buckyballs lined up like a strand of pearls called a buckywire.
Buckywires ought to be handy for all kinds of biological, electrical, optical, and magnetic applications. The gist of the paper is that anything that traditional carbon nanotubes can do, buckywires can do better. Or at least more cheaply.
Finally, a use for buckyballs... and it only took 25 years. Real science moves at a snail's pace.
Buckyballs and buckywires!
ReplyDeleteAnd I like Bucky Cat.
It all seems to fit somehow. Must be that early morning Bushmills. ;-)
Slow but steady wins the race.
I, for one, am all for conducting some photon-liberated electrons.
ReplyDeleteIt's well past time!
Does it take an evil genius to do this?
ReplyDeleteAnanda Girl: Bucky Cat is also made of carbon! What are the odds?
ReplyDeleteSlow & stead does win the race. Real science is the complete antithesis of pseudoscience which moves so rapidly that there is no time to ask the relevent questions.
Larry Dunham: I'm with you. Then we move on to detecting Hawking phonons
ReplyDeleteJill: No. An evil genius would make buckyballs zip around like minute Death Stars destroying things. This is not the stuff of the Dark Side.
ReplyDeleteCube-- And I'm carbon based too!
ReplyDeleteIs all organic matter carbon based?
Ananda Girl: Yes. Organic chemistry is basically the chemistry of carbon.
ReplyDeleteAlways love bucky balls, always will
ReplyDeleteGifted Typist: Me too! I figured that they'd be useful one day.
ReplyDeleteThat's the beauty of open-ended research. You never know when it will pay off big time.
ReplyDeletewell, first, reading your comments about "is all life carbon based" "yes, that's what organic means" brings me to the joke in our household. Whenever we see "organic produce" I always say something like "I want INorganic produce! Silicon celery, anyone?" wha wha wha whaaaaaaaa.
ReplyDeleteI won't quit my day job.
But my original comment was 1-2-4 trimethylbenzene. Carcinogen? Probably not, but I'm betting that even if we find a good use for it, someone will shriek something about what cost progress?!
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birdwoman: That's the kind of humor that works at my house so you can leave off the cheesy sound effects. We pretty much make the same jokes.
ReplyDeleteDon't all benzene compounds have the possibility of being carcinogenic? It is a valid concern. It's too soon to tell what the longterm effects will be.