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TEAM 0.5 Microsope Takes Closest Look Ever at Graphene, the World's Strongest Known Material
Posted by Sean Fallon at 7:40 AM on September 11, 2008
Graphene is getting a lot of publicity these days. It is being hailed as the future of the electronics industry—the material that will eventually replace silicon. It has also recently been confirmed as the world's strongest known material. Now, researchers at the Berkeley Lab have thrust graphene into the spotlight once again thanks to the TEAM 0.5: the world's most powerful transmission electron microscope. It has produced the first "stunning" images of graphene's individual carbon atoms.
Now, I'm no scientist, but apparently this sort of image gives even the most seasoned electron microscopist a raging science boner. But it is not so much about the graphene as it is about the potential of the TEAM 0.5. One researcher noted that it "allows for the detection of every single atom from the Periodic Table provided that the sample under investigation can stand the radiation damage." Basically, it can study individual atoms in real time and produce high-resolution images of its subject. That will allow researchers to fully realise the potential of graphene by understanding how defects in the crystal structure can effect its properties. And they claim this is only the tip of the iceberg. Noooow I feel a science boner coming on. [Nanowerk and Science Daily]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Kymeira
Posted 8:12 AM 11/9/08
@Dillenger69: That's what I thought at first.
Kymeira
Dillenger69
Posted 8:07 AM 11/9/08
It looks like the mat I have in my silverware drawer to keep the holder thing from sliding to the back.
Dillenger69
tucker
Posted 8:05 AM 11/9/08
@Geisrud: beat me to it
tucker
scarbrtj
Posted 8:03 AM 11/9/08
I thought the world's strongest material was on NBC's Last Comic Standing?
No?
scarbrtj
Papsky
Posted 8:03 AM 11/9/08
mmm.. honeycomb.
Papsky
Return of DaOtter
Posted 8:01 AM 11/9/08
@bucklefilledbird: And you know what? There IS NO EASTER BUNNY!!!
Hell with silicon replacement, I'm waiting until the TVs get less than 2 inches thick total. BAD. ASS.
Return of DaOtter
Jamezspot
Posted 7:56 AM 11/9/08
Fap fap fap for science.
Jamezspot
bucklefilledbird
Posted 7:55 AM 11/9/08
@Return of DaOtter: Damnit! beat me to it!
bucklefilledbird
bucklefilledbird
Posted 7:54 AM 11/9/08
@RBecho: Ha ha ha ha. You dumb bastard. It's not a schooner... it's a Sailboat.
bucklefilledbird
Geisrud
Posted 7:54 AM 11/9/08
@Phenostar: ah yes, the good ol' magic eye pictures. I actually tried that just now, and all I could get was breakfast cereal..
Geisrud
jibbly
Posted 7:53 AM 11/9/08
@Phenostar: As a heroin abusing Jay once said,"What you need is a fatty-boom-batty blunt, and I guarantee you'll be seeing a sailboat, an ocean, and maybe even some of those big-tittied mermaids doing some of that lesbian shit. Look at me, look at me, you sloppy bitch!"
With all this boner and Mallrats talk, perhaps we can segue way into using graphene to create a non-kryptonite condom for Superman so he can do the giggity-gaggity with earthling women.
jibbly
Return of DaOtter
Posted 7:53 AM 11/9/08
@Phenostar: It's not a schooner you idiot, it's a sailboat.
Seriously, though, that's fracking awesome.
Return of DaOtter
RBecho
Posted 7:52 AM 11/9/08
@Phenostar: It's a schooner.
RBecho
Phenostar
Posted 7:44 AM 11/9/08
Now if you relax your eyes, look through it, you can see a 3d spaceship!
No, wait, is that a palm tree on a beach...?
Phenostar
jkr's bold comment
Posted 7:43 AM 11/9/08
@Sean Fallon sorry, I'll point somewhere else.
jkr's bold comment
Margatron
Posted 8:27 AM 11/9/08
Looks like an egg carton to me. Maybe an atom-carton.
Margatron
Tweak
Posted 8:21 AM 11/9/08
Wonder how much a computer made out of that would cost.
Tweak
Emiat
Posted 8:55 AM 11/9/08
@fino35: No, That metal is the most dangerous to human hearing.
Emiat
jkr's bold comment
Posted 8:55 AM 11/9/08
@nutbastard: Don't you know that perfect graphene has no properties.
jkr's bold comment
fino35
Posted 8:46 AM 11/9/08
I thought Dragonforce was the Hardest metal known to man?
fino35
nutbastard
Posted 8:41 AM 11/9/08
"That will allow researchers to fully realize the potential of graphene by understanding how defects in the crystal structure can effect its properties."
Sean, I think you mean "affect", not "effect"
nutbastard
MeesterBell
Posted 9:12 AM 11/9/08
Looks like 'waffle' - pass the nano maple syrup.
MeesterBell
BigPanda
Posted 9:48 AM 11/9/08
@bucklefilledbird: A schooner is a sailboat, stupid head!
BigPanda
rentahero1
Posted 9:46 AM 11/9/08
It is definitely Honeycomb. Waffles usually don't have a hex pattern... waffle makers are too lazy for that.
For some reason, I've got my bad-for-you cereals twisted in my head. When I think of Honeycomb, it makes me want to say Coooooooookie Crisp! or that I'm coocoo for Cocoa Puffs.
rentahero1
Burbank_Jeffers
Posted 9:38 AM 11/9/08
@MeesterBell: "Looks like 'waffle' - pass the nano maple syrup. "
yummmmm.... Waffles...
Burbank_Jeffers
FritzLaurel
Posted 9:37 AM 11/9/08
Oooo, pretty......
FritzLaurel
ALT
Posted 10:20 AM 11/9/08
I slept on this shit all through college. Who woulda thunk the strongest material was under my pillow this entire time?
ALT
AlternateEarth
Posted 10:08 AM 11/9/08
For those of you who need a reminder, here's a free ebook version of Orwell's 1984.
[www.planetebook.com]
AlternateEarth
mferrari
Posted 11:12 AM 11/9/08
@nutbastard: That reminds me of an xkcd comic on grammar nazis with effect and affect. I'm to lazy to get the link though.
mferrari
Rogbog4299
Posted 12:04 PM 11/9/08
Graphene is the future of the electronics industry! There is no doubt about that with this new material it will replace silicon. Those guys at Berkeley Labs know what they are talking about.
Rogbog4299
kabu
Posted 12:56 PM 11/9/08
I've actually been working with graphene at Columbia (see the "world's strongest material link"), and I can say for certain that this, to use the proper scientific terms, is really freaking awesome.
kabu
rockntrumpet
Posted 12:05 AM 12/9/08
Soo yeah, this is photoshopped because any TEM I've ever used, and I've used quite a few, the pictures don't come out colored!!! PHAKE! At least the color anyway. In fact this picture looks suspiciously like they stitched some slices together to get the "3-D" effect since TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) takes flat pictures. This looks more like AFM to me. (Atomic Force Microscopy).
rockntrumpet
Geisrud
Posted 11:48 PM 11/9/08
You guys thought I meant honeycomb? I'm seeing Count Chocula, bitches.
Geisrud
You Cannot Untoast
Posted 5:15 AM 12/9/08
@rockntrumpet: Wheeeee! I'm an internet expert! Look at me! Acknowledge my sad existence.
You Cannot Untoast
jimbowyer
Posted 6:24 AM 13/9/08
@rockntrumpet:
So must be 'PHAKE' because any TEM you've used doesn't produce images like this- despite you never having used or seen the world's most powerful TEM.
In other news I claim shenanigans on the Bugatti Veyron's supposed 253mph top speed. Any car I've ever driven, and I've driven quite a few, have never managed to go above 130mph. So obviously someone's lying as my car also uses an engine that runs on petrol.
jimbowyer