When we were starting out, aluminum was
considered the metal of tomorrow, expanding its use in an impressive array of products,
aircraft frames and beverage containers notable among them. Sea changes in that outlook languished Alcoa
right out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average last month, and it’s been brought
to our attention that something called graphene may have already emerged as the
new titleholder.
Nothing that aluminum has been replaced
with is considered a metal, so what that title may be is the subject of some
debate. Allotrope of the future maybe,
if the titleholder even turns out to be graphene, or free-standing single
atomic plane of tomorrow. There is also
the occasional reference to chicken wire that would seem to offer intriguing
definitional possibilities.
Whatever, this stuff is 100 times stronger
than steel, ridiculously light, supermodel thin, and easy to layer, has the optical
properties of a TV screen, and conducts electricity well enough to possibly be the next hot way to reduce computer thingie sizes. A single thread of graphene the size of a
cat’s whisker can lift an automobile right off the ground, while the car's side panels show you Fox News too, we suppose.
And a box of graphene oxide membranes
can distill vodka better than anything, reason enough for MacDougal Post
subscribers to check all this out at the following links (Careful, the first is for science jocks only):
