- We're turning carbon into superconductors.
Resistance is futile.
(electronic music)
Graphene is awesome stuff and I know a lot of you out there
think the same because we have actually received requests
to do an update about graphene.
Now, this is a sheet of carbon atoms just one atom thick.
If you were to lay these one on top of the other,
you would eventually have graphite,
which is the stuff that is in your ordinary pencil.
Or, if you were to take a sheet of graphene
and curl it so its edges met,
you would make a carbon nanotube.
One of the coolest things about graphene recently,
is that we figured out how to turn it into a superconductor.
A conductor is able to conduct electricity
and some materials do it better than others.
Copper cables, pretty good for example.
But a block of rubber isn't, it's an insulator.
But even with good conductors,
you still lose some electricity because of resistance.
A material resists electricity flowing through it
and so some electricity is converted into heat.
That means no matter how much electricity you pour
into one end of a copper cable,
you're never going to get the same amount
out the other side.
But superconductors are different.
They have a zero-loss carrying capability of electricity.
As much as you put in,
that's how much you're going to get out
and there's no resistance.
Until recently, graphene was not one of these materials,
but back in 2012, some scientists hypothesized
that if you were to introduce lithium atoms
at careful locations inside a sheet of graphene,
you could turn it into a superconductor.
And recently, scientists did just that.
They were able to make a superconductive sheet of graphene.
Now, an important thing to keep in mind is that
these materials are operating at very low temperatures.
I mean, seriously cold.
Just to get the lithium atoms into the graphene,
They had to lower the temperature
to about -265 degrees celsius and to turn it
into a superconductor they had to go even colder,
to -267 degrees celsius, that's wicked cold.
But the scientists are hopeful that if we play
with where the lithium is placed,
we can slowly increase that temperature,
turning it into what we call
a high-temperature superconductor.
Keep in mind, these are still incredibly cold temperatures,
they're just less insanely cold.
So why is this important?
Well, for one thing, we might eventually be able
to make superconductive nanowires for microprocessors.
Electronics and heat don't get on well with each other.
As a microprocessor has electricity run through it,
its components heat up.
That heat can make components expand, breaking connections,
causing errors, maybe even causing a complete failure.
But superconductors don't generate heat.
They conduct electricity perfectly.
So, if we're able to build microprocessors
with superconductive wires, we have amazing electronics
that could extend the life of Moore's Law.
Oh, and the coolest thing about superconductors,
in my opinion, is that they eject magnetic fields.
Normally, when you run electricity through a conductor,
it creates an electromagnetic field, that's pretty basic.
But, superconductors eject all magnetic fields
from the center of the superconducting material,
which means if you were to take a magnet,
and place it over said superconductor,
it would levitate in place.
We're talking hoverboards, people.
Alright, I've got a question for all of you guys out there.
I know some of you are real graphene junkies.
You know all there is to know about graphene
and carbon nanotubes, so share that knowledge.
Tell me, what is the coolest or most exciting thing
about graphene that you know and let me know that
in the comments below.
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