What makes a metal precious? Talk about Gold and Diamond! These materials come up to our minds as we hear the word precious metals. But there are other materials that we apparently cannot use to forge jewelry but which has great potential for the human race.
We are here to talk about Graphene-the material that can change our lives entirely. Big Corporations has already engaged in patent wars over it. China has the greatest number of Graphene Patents, a whopping 30% of all filed patents.
Properties of Graphene
Graphene is just one single atomic layer thick! The single atoms in Graphene build Hexagonal lattices. Think about it. Yet it is still the strongest and hardest material known to man. Apart from these properties, Graphene is also very good at conducting electricity. It also has super thermal Conductivity.
Graphene is stronger than Diamonds. In fact, Graphene is the most stable form of Carbon. And although it is solid, it is highly flexible.
Space Elevator
Can Graphene be used to build Space Elevators which can drastically reduce the cost of Space Travel? We are talking about building a cable that needs to cover a 22,000 miles distance. But why exactly 22,000 miles? This is the distance at which the satellites remain at geostationary orbit.
Well, Graphene might not be the answer to Space Elevator, but another form of carbon similar to graphene might make Space Elevators a reality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fASklODXNnw
Space Elevator Carbon Nanotubes
Graphene and Carbon Nano Tubes somewhat share similar properties except for their appearance. Graphene can be visualized as a single sheet of Carbon Atoms. Whereas Carbon Nao Tubes are built with Carbon Spheres also known by the fancy name Bucky Balls.
One of the most ambitious ideas about Space Travel can be called the Space Elevator. In fact, NASA organizes a dedicated competition for this purpose where bright minds can participate and showcase their ideas about how to build an actual Space Elevator.
Among the many benefits of a Space Elevator is the prospect of reducing the cost of space travel by almost one-fifth.
Wrapping Up!
Graphene can be used to build batteries for a wide array of electronics products. Here is a quick blog on the various promises of Graphene for building better Batteries.
