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Hmm. Interesting
Apr. 28th, 2005 11:33 amToday on Slashdot there is an article about "Quantum Wire".
"NASA is paying Rice University $11 million to build a prototype quantum wire that can conduct electricity 10 times better than traditional copper cables at one-sixth the weight. Rice has four years to build a one-meter-long quantum wire, which will be made out of carbon nanotubes. Seems like a lot of money for a little wire, but then again, all the rocket scientists at Los Alamos have only ever been able to put together a four-centimeter nanotube."
The bit that the original writer seems to miss is that 1 metre buckytubes (which is what they are) has other, much more interesting uses beyond being "merely" superconducting wire. It is also the so called "threshold length" for building a beanstalk space elevator.
Interersting indeed.
"NASA is paying Rice University $11 million to build a prototype quantum wire that can conduct electricity 10 times better than traditional copper cables at one-sixth the weight. Rice has four years to build a one-meter-long quantum wire, which will be made out of carbon nanotubes. Seems like a lot of money for a little wire, but then again, all the rocket scientists at Los Alamos have only ever been able to put together a four-centimeter nanotube."
The bit that the original writer seems to miss is that 1 metre buckytubes (which is what they are) has other, much more interesting uses beyond being "merely" superconducting wire. It is also the so called "threshold length" for building a beanstalk space elevator.
Interersting indeed.
