Graphene.

Graphene is a material composed of pure carbon, with atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern. Graphene can be described as a one-atom thick layer of the mineral graphite, (many layers of graphene stacked together effectively form crystalline flake graphite). Amongst its other well-publicised superlative properties, it is very light, with a 1-square-meter sheet weighing only 0.77 milligrams.

The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene". In 2013, graphene researchers led by Prof. Jari Kinaret from Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology, secured a €1 billion grant from the European Union to be used for further research into development of potential applications of graphene.

Graphene, a two-dimensional sheet made of pure carbon, is 200 times stronger than steel. A new experiment at Columbia University in New York City has for the first time directly measured the strength of two-dimensional carbon and found it to be unprecedentedly strong. Carbon sheets only a single atom thick might be used in making super-lightweight composite materials.
http://www.aip.org/pnu/2008/split/867-2.html

Additional information.

http://www.extremetech.com/tag/graphene

Mass producing Graphene.

Unfortunately, novelty doesn’t come cheap. Graphene is prohibitively expensive to make – as recently as 2008, it cost $100 million to produce a single cubic centimeter of graphene, according to Daily Tech.

But researchers have just found a method that could bring that cost down and make graphene a ubiquitous fabrication material.
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/2013/02/26/graphene-the-quest-to-mass-produce-the-next-miracle-material/

Interesting. Always nice to learn something new. Thank you.

I heard you can make graphene circuits with a laser from a cd-rom. Someone already produced a super-capacitor that is paper-thin 1x1cm and lights an led for 5min. They claim they can stack them and make them 10,000 times better than batteries.

Isnt battery power the only reason a lightsaber hasnt been created?

Wescli, are you someone who corrects people when they say 'the lead in my pencil'? I am

Drexid wrote: Isnt battery power the only reason a lightsaber hasnt been created?

Off topic but no. It is one of the reasons. Containing the plasma beam is the most difficult. Then getting a law passed allowing someone to carry it around would be the second...

Hahhaha Akkarin, after years I have learned that having everything be “just right” is not always as important or beneficial as letting some minor things go. But yes, I was at a time that way.

I have wanted to share this with y’all for about a week now. But, I was out of town then on my return discovered my computer was messed up. So it took till yesterday to get it on here.

Graphene is not “new” so to say, but people have discovered a new process to manufacture it far more cost effectively. That is the key to utilizing something in a way which we can gain the most benefit from it. And as technology and advances march on, I would think that the availability of this will only become more abundant. I would hope!

I think that this could very well be the material of the future. A lot of people are looking into its size and conductivity for electrical applications… but I also see a new building material for hulls. Space ship hulls. With the new “drives” (engines) being developed and this materials ability to conduct electricity, its strength and weight… mass and speed could quickly become much lower on our list of concerns for space travel.

Just a thought.