One Word for Today's Graduate: Graphene - Technologue

100 Times as Strong and 10 Times as Impact-Resistant as Steel by Weight
If Hollywood were to remake "The Graduate," what "one word" do you suppose Mr. McGuire would impart to young Ben at his graduation party, now that plastics are passé? I nominate "graphene." Have you heard of it? It's a two-dimensional crystal, isolated in 2004, that's an allotrope of carbon—like diamonds, soot, graphite, and spherical "buckyball" fullerenes—that looks like a microscopic chicken-wire mesh. Miraculous claims: It's among the most electrically and thermally conductive materials extant and it's 100 times as strong and 10 times as impact-resistant as steel by weight. A square yard of the material could support a 9-pound cat but would weigh only as much as a single whisker.

from Motor Trend Blog http://ift.tt/1Gu8LsK