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Scientist Confirm: Graphene is Strongest Material Ever Known

technologyreview.com — Materials scientists have been singing graphene's praises since it was first isolated in 2005. Now, for the first time, researchers have measured the intrinsic strength of graphene, and they've confirmed it to be the strongest material ever tested. A sheet of graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop a pencil.

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  • shtfactory, on 07/17/2008, -12/+133dugg for prospect of women being unable to sabotage graphene condoms...
    • 32bytes, on 07/17/2008, -14/+2New material for dildo manufacturing!
    • pintomp3, on 07/17/2008, -20/+6bush is going to outlaw condoms anyway.
    • baldr, on 07/17/2008, -6/+19wait- women can sabotage condoms?!?
      that bitch...
    • purduecory, on 07/17/2008, -0/+36bad experience with condom saboteurs?
    • oveedrx, on 07/17/2008, -2/+16he is unable to comment, he has to tend to his kid.....
    • TRScheel, on 07/17/2008, -13/+7How to cause havok:

      Step 1) Go to your local family planning and poke holes through the middle of every condom with a needle.

      There is no step 2... you just single handedly caused a dozen babies and foiled a form of contraception. The pope would be proud
    • SuperWinner, on 07/17/2008, -4/+2I'm waiting for confirmation from jeebus...
    • azngrl0330, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1there probably wouldn't have been a condom comment if it weren't for the picture...
    • SaciPerere, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1That's why I always tight them up and take them out with me (the condoms, that is :). after use, of course.
  • digitallysick, on 07/17/2008, -40/+11" A sheet of graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop a pencil" Wouldn't the pencil break? and why would we put the car on top of a pencil when we are testing the strength of graphene.
    • ahhell, on 07/17/2008, -7/+21Holy christ, are you that thick????
      • sbassoli, on 07/17/2008, -1/+7Certainly thicker than a perfect sample of graphene.
      • DaHuuuuuudge, on 07/17/2008, -1/+6SARCASM

        Holy ***** Diggers, I guess I overestimated you.
    • koenigje, on 07/17/2008, -7/+4You sir are a douche. It's for you to try and visualize how much force can be applied to a small surface area on the graphene without it breaking........but I'm sure you understand this, making you a dirty dirty troll.
      • TauntingFrench, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Noo!! Internet Rule 14... the troll just won
    • cawpin, on 07/17/2008, -4/+1digitallysick - Look at the ***** picture, jackass. The car isn't on the pencil.
    • digglet08, on 07/17/2008, -2/+2no trolling here - but I had to reread a couple times as well... I was thinking, a car, on a pencil, on gra - ooooh

      poorly worded I'd say
      • Aeomyr, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1That took me ages to figure out, I was gonna say the same thing as the other guy before.
    • N00F, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1My hat off to you sir. You're saying what every sarcastic *****-disturber is thinking. (me included)
  • HUSTLER101, on 07/17/2008, -15/+1Well Now We can expect better safety in auto .
    ( though the article mentions currently its not possible , I am just expecting and being positive )
  • ripter, on 07/17/2008, -11/+59"t's unlikely that graphene's incredible strength will be put to use in such a task. At the macroscopic level of coffee cups and cars, "any material will be full of cracks and flaws," says Kysar. It's at the level of such cracks and flaws that airplane wings and bridge supports fail. "Only a tiny sample can be perfect and superstrong," says Hone."

    So in other words, it's not the strongest material in the way people think of a material being strong. I bet my electron is stronger than your Graphene! But you can't use my electron, because if I gave you more than one, it wouldn't be stronger anymore.
    • FolkTheory, on 07/17/2008, -5/+35no. electrons dont form molecular bonds all by themselves. the'yre measuring the strength of molecular bonds between different graphene atoms and their corresponding electrons to each other.
      • cawpin, on 07/17/2008, -2/+18His example is perfectly fine.
      • cnosal, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2You're right in that there's no 'molecule' made up of several electrons, though to be clear, electrons are the molecular bonds. 'Stolen' electrons result in an ionic bond, and 'shared' electrons create a covalent bond.
    • staticneuron, on 07/17/2008, -6/+1Well if graphine could be made into a cloth that can be woven.....
      • digglet08, on 07/17/2008, -1/+4was that a joke?
      • staticneuron, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1No, A cloth type material wouldn't have cracks. And they can conform to a smaller size if needed. I am thinking along the lines of the space elevator idea I read in Popular Science a few years back. Maybe it can actually work.
    • Iztikeit, on 07/17/2008, -1/+0It will eventually be used more efficiently and will be stronger than everything else we are producing, as long as nothing else comes up before that time.
    • endlessoul, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1In that case, could we make some kind of alloy or mixture with Graphene in it?
      • DraxusD, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1They're saying ANY material at the scale needed for useful things will have flaws and cracks.
    • Bersy, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1I bet my erection is stronger than your electron...
  • GregFD3S, on 07/17/2008, -13/+5Pretty neat. Soon Graphene will be used in computers and can replace silicon. A sheet of graphite a single atom thick can conduct electricity at room temperature more than any material.

    More efficiency == stream porn and pirated music off of the internet faster then ever before.
    • ChiffX, on 07/17/2008, -2/+13I believe you're mixing up processing speeds and fiber optic speeds.
    • GregFD3S, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Yes, digg me down because... Eh... Why?

      I have done allot of work in computers and I know that Graphene is being used, and drastically increases efficiency over silicon chips. That was the point of my comment above, so no, I am not confused between Fiber Optic and Processor speeds.

      But go ahead and digg me down anyways, because apparently that is what all of the cool people are doing.
  • cholesterolnews, on 07/17/2008, -6/+1pretty cool
  • JohnnyRad, on 07/17/2008, -6/+40"Scientist Confirm: Graphene is Strongest Material Ever Known"
    Tell that to Wolverine's fist!
  • DigitusAnonymus, on 07/17/2008, -29/+37Chuck Norris can break it.
    • FunkstarDeLu, on 07/17/2008, -14/+22***** Norris, he's a *****.
    • pintomp3, on 07/17/2008, -3/+79chuck norris is so strong he killed his career and huckabees campaign in one blow.
      • Spuy767, on 07/17/2008, -0/+10For the sake of argument, Norris' career had been dead for a decade before 4q.cc/chuck.
    • Ramble, on 07/17/2008, -3/+5I doubt it.
      Patrick Stewart probably could though.
    • Jpotts12, on 07/17/2008, -7/+5I can break your head for telling stupid chuck norris jokes. The whole chuck norris fad was retarded, and so was everyone (99% of diggers too) who followed it. I, however, did not, and am therefore a genius.
    • lintmonkey, on 07/17/2008, -2/+1Duck chorus bans drake spit.
    • Deodrus, on 07/18/2008, -2/+2Enough with the Chuck Norris jokes already !! How about an original comment for once?
  • Clark3934, on 07/17/2008, -2/+20"The material's strength is particularly good news for those in the semiconductor industry who hope to make computers faster by developing microprocessors that use graphene transistors."

    Only part diggers need to read. Woot!
  • magneticdozer, on 07/17/2008, -1/+48transparent aluminum !
    • bobdobolena, on 07/17/2008, -2/+1dugg for Trekkie reference. Even though the whole dolphin theme was a bit off...oh well.
      • SpectralSounds, on 07/17/2008, -0/+14I think you mean Humpback Whale theme. I'm not even a huge Trek fan (I'll stay on the Star Wars side) and I know that.

        He was trying to find the nuclear wessels.
      • webdawg77, on 07/17/2008, -0/+9Scotty: Admiral, there be whales here!
      • bobdobolena, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6 "I prefer a dose of common sense! You're proposing that we go backwards in time, find humpback whales, then bring them foward in time, drop 'em off, and hope to hell they tell this probe what to do with itself!"

        ....must check IMDB before posting to digg! sorry about the mixup
      • DestroyFascism, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Wha? I have to type on keyboard?
    • dwninjungleland, on 07/17/2008, -0/+11Hello, computer!
  • buba1243, on 07/17/2008, -9/+6Imagine if they can perfect it to the point of making large sheets of it. Layer it a couple of times and I bet it would stop just about any bullet.
    • DraxusD, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1The article clearly states this isn't going to happen.
  • imcybersmart, on 07/17/2008, -8/+2sweet. whens it going retail? i need want some for a case for my laptop
  • gcnaddict, on 07/17/2008, -4/+11You know what this means?

    This means we finally have a material which can encapsulate raw neutron star. (Yes, I know that's just pure neutrons, but the idea is that we finally have something strong enough to contain a small amount of compacted neutrons)
    • Halgy, on 07/17/2008, -0/+7That was exactly what I was thinking.
    • kurtu5, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3Yeah electrostatic forces overrider nuclear binging energy. ok.
  • Jovensdisciple, on 07/17/2008, -17/+1Obama's hope is the strongest material ever known. And yes, I am retarded.
  • alexanEmpire, on 07/17/2008, -2/+12Scientist have also confirmed that technologyreview.com is not strong enough to withstand the digg effect.

    Mirror, anyone?
  • MutatedNantuko, on 07/17/2008, -6/+88I'm guessing it won't blend.
  • jellydoughnut21, on 07/17/2008, -0/+7So if it's just one atom thick sheets of carbon, what makes it different from graphite? I'm curious to know where all the strength comes from.
    • Aadain, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3I'm assuming it comes from the fact that it is a perfect crystalline structure, whereas graphite is, at the microscopic level, very irregular and full of holes, imperfections, etc. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if a sheet of almost any crystalline material in its perfect form is incredibly strong. The trick is getting a large amount of it, beyond the microscopic level this stuff exists at.
    • hexydes, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1God. No, science. Wait...what was the question..?
    • Iztikeit, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

      Those bonds are ridiculously strong.
    • lintmonkey, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Spinach and Wheaties.
    • cnosal, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2Graphite is just layers of imperfect graphene (with holes, etc) stacked loosely together. The layers separate easily, hence pencils. This is one large 'perfect' sheet of graphene. To expand on lztikeit, graphene is held together with covalent bonds (shared electrons), which is much stronger than intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonds, van der Waals, or dipole interaction)
  • Merendino, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2That was actually a moderately informative article. Especially the point talking about Nano-tubules missing and atom and breaking much easier at that juncture. Didn't know ONE out of place carbon atom in that sequence was THAT damaging.
    • Iztikeit, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1Think of it like a kid with down syndrome.
  • yikiad, on 07/17/2008, -12/+2i don't know about you, but the strongest material ever know is the gas from broccoli farts...
  • modix, on 07/17/2008, -1/+8Does anyone know if the tensile strength is anywhere close enough to be used as a space elevator cable?
    • septicmadman, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2Not even close unfortunately.
    • GregFD3S, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3I believe that carbon nanotubes are made of cylindrical graphene ribbons.
  • subliminali, on 07/17/2008, -8/+10"A sheet of graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop a pencil." something tells me the pencil wouldn't be strong enough for the car...
    • bpoteat, on 07/17/2008, -0/+14How do you know the pencil isn't made of graphene?
    • kaihh, on 07/17/2008, -1/+3Something tells me you missed the point.
  • landmonster, on 07/17/2008, -6/+5Yeah, but how would you balance on a car on a pencil?
  • chrisinsocalif, on 07/17/2008, -3/+1I wonder if this would be a practical application for vehicles like sports cars. Not sure of the weight or cost, but I want a lamborghini made of Graphene.
    • Spuy767, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6Why, so that you're killed instantly when you run into anything because of the entire force of the crash being transferred into your body?
      • chrisinsocalif, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Crumple zones don't do much when you are going 200 mph. If its so important on supercars, why are some made with carbon fiber?
    • twiztidsinz, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3At the macroscopic level of coffee cups and cars, "any material will be full of cracks and flaws," says Kysar. It's at the level of such cracks and flaws that airplane wings and bridge supports fail. "Only a tiny sample can be perfect and superstrong," says Hone.
    • neFariou5, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Look into the early designs of cars and what the lack of crumple zones will do to a driver and passengers in a crash.
  • undershirt, on 07/17/2008, -2/+8"...graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop the pencil."

    Wow. That's a pretty strong pencil. Dugg.
  • greengiant2684, on 07/17/2008, -8/+11Diamond is one of the hardest metals (If not THE hardest metal) known the man.
    • hamGrenade, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4joke detected. giggles were giggled.
    • whahaa, on 07/17/2008, -9/+7diamond is not a metal, genius.
      • drunkmonkey01, on 07/17/2008, -4/+2the article talks about the strongest material, not the strongest metal.
    • jdelsman, on 07/17/2008, -8/+4Diamonds are made of carbon, which is a non-metal. Thanks for playing, though.
    • BoneheadFarker, on 07/17/2008, -8/+3Diamond isn't a metal...but it is one of the hardest materials known to man...
      • BoneheadFarker, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1To anyone digging me...please don't. I didn't get the joke. I actually have never heard of uncyclopedia before...
    • Halgy, on 07/17/2008, -3/+2I see several people beat me to it. Never mind, then.

      But to be fair my post was nicer.
    • trakie, on 07/17/2008, -9/+3diamond = mineral
      hardest != strongest

      im going to sleep i cant tell if you were serious or not.
    • yodasama, on 07/17/2008, -1/+7I can't believe that so few people get this joke...
    • encumbent, on 07/18/2008, -4/+1Hardest =/= strongest. And diamond is the hardest material known to man, it's what we define the hardness of everything else from..
  • Thekirby45, on 07/17/2008, -11/+26But will it run Crysis?
  • zarex, on 07/17/2008, -1/+3It's neat, but it's important to note that this only applies to flawless samples; a single missing atom reduces strength considerably. So in reality, this can only be made on an extremely tiny scale. Also, lots of materials exhibit tremendous strength when in pure form (glass, for example), so it's not really that special.
  • Borgcube636, on 07/17/2008, -4/+18Buried as inaccurate. I'm sure some alien civilization out there has tested even stronger materials.
    • nextekcarl, on 07/17/2008, -2/+0I suppose they should have added "...Known by Mankind." Oops, that should be "...Ever Known by Mankind up to now". Oops, ""...Ever Known by Mankind up to now ASAIKATM" but then that might be too long for the Digg headline.
      • NodOfficer, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1It's a given that it's implied.
      • nextekcarl, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0Did I actually need to use a sarcasm tag? I thought it was kind of implied. 8^)
    • funknjunk, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3"Ever Known"
      • MacEnvy, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1So even aliens didn't know about it?
  • 1b2a, on 07/17/2008, -7/+1Woot! Columbia '12.
  • Borgcube636, on 07/17/2008, -11/+3But will it blend?
  • slsashrk, on 07/17/2008, -8/+2But will it power a space ship? No... for that we need dark matter.
    • Godlike, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2But will it manufacture enough kelp to feed the world? No... for that we need

      STFU
      • slsashrk, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0Well you can bite my shiny metal ass...

        001100010010011110100001101101110011
  • danibobanny, on 07/17/2008, -3/+1I bet people are going to start having their wedding rings made of this stuff.
    • jdelsman, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6And haw haw when they get too fat to take it off, and then lose their finger because doctors can't cut the metal!
      • danibobanny, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1I'd bet that's already happening with the tungsten carbide rings out there.
      • lintmonkey, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1...so tap it with a hammer.
  • twiztidsinz, on 07/17/2008, -5/+1"By depressing a sharp diamond probe into graphene until it broke, researchers established that the material is the strongest ever tested."
    Wouldn't that mean that the diamond is stronger? o.O
    • Iztikeit, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1No. Steel probe could have broken it (this sheet was incredibly thin....) but they just use diamond as the testing material.

      It obviously took more energy to break it than it did to break through a diamond sheet of equivalent thickness.
  • hamGrenade, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4this makes me think. i read the article and am aware of the problem with obtaining a large sheet of graphene but hear me out. what happens if you pull a piece of it tight like a violin bow string, would that make the edges into a blade that could cut through anything? and would you even be able to see a piece of material that's one atom thick? you could make an invisible floor. oh *****. science you cheap whore.
    • cnosal, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1AFAIK you can't 'pull' it tight, at least in the sense you're thinking of, as its held together (and rigid) by covalent bonds (it's one big molecule). And no, you probably couldn't see it edge on without some nice fancy electron microscope, but personally I like to walk on the 'flat' side of the floor instead of the edge ;)
    • rictek, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Theoretically it could make an incredible edge but the difficulty would be maintaining the angle of approach perfectly. A one atom thick blade, even of graphene would be impossibly delicate and bend or break. Although if you could somehow accelerate the sheet to ludicrous speed (i.e. the straw being able to stick into a tree at tornado winds tale) it could shot at and cut through any softer object. But why not just use a laser? Also the floor thing might work, but it would still collect dust and dirt like a thin sheet of glass.
  • cloudcity, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Let the stupid comic book jokes begin.
  • rynvndrp, on 07/17/2008, -1/+23Ok, material engineer student here to destroy you day. A lot of materials are strong at that level. If you calculated out the strength of iron by how much it takes to tear two atoms apart, iron could be used to create a space cable. In reality what breaks materials is slip planes, dislocations, impurities etc. Part of the reason diamond is so strong on the macroscopic level is that you can create a near perfect crystal. The test here shows that it has a very strong crystal structure, so does graphite. Its the binding of those crystals that really matters. I will get excited when you get a graphine link in a chain that breaks steel in tension. Whatever it takes to get funding I suppose.
    • cnosal, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Agreed that the strength doesn't scale, and that there's different strengths to consider, but graphite might not be the best example to use, as it's the same crystal structure.
  • darny, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Finally, the new asbestos!
  • dwninjungleland, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Does anyone know the bonding structure of this material?
  • barstegry, on 07/17/2008, -2/+1I bet it would crumble like a Saltine cracker under the weight of Paris Hilton's star power....or not.
  • MaxIsBored, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Too bad their servers aren't made of graphene.
  • Godlike, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2One molecule thick sheet can hold a car on a pencil...

    Graphene-edged kitchen knives anyone? How about the mono filament garrote from scifi lore? Sword that can cut a fridge in half with one shot? Helicopter blades/propellers with hundreds of times less friction? This would make virtually indestructible tanks if layered.

    I wonder if its insanely cost prohibitive. To echo the past at Dow Chem in the early 1900s... "I have one word for you: graphine"
    • cnosal, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Tensile strength is how much force you need to stretch a material to breaking point, when talking about physical materials there's different 'strengths' to consider. However I'm not familiar enough with them to suggest the 'sword-of-doom' strength factor you want.
  • Ransom13, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1Buried for not being called Adamantium.

    (actually, dugg because it's a pretty cool breakthrough)
  • farfromsubtl, on 07/17/2008, -0/+7Don't get too excited:

    FTA:

    It's unlikely that graphene's incredible strength will be put to use in such a task. At the macroscopic level of coffee cups and cars, "any material will be full of cracks and flaws," says Kysar. It's at the level of such cracks and flaws that airplane wings and bridge supports fail. "Only a tiny sample can be perfect and superstrong," says Hone.
  • terriblelie, on 07/17/2008, -2/+25I call Shenanigans! Everyone knows that Dragonforce is the hardest metal known to man!!!
  • sevvo, on 07/17/2008, -10/+0Will it blend?
    • TJMcWhiskers, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2will they ever read the previous comments to realize their stupid joke was used up 3 times already?
  • leerayIG88, on 07/17/2008, -10/+1MY penis is the hardest material ever.
    • Vladamir, on 07/17/2008, -3/+2Your mom mentioned that last night, until she saw mine and revised her opinion!
  • JRumph, on 07/17/2008, -1/+4If he could get a large enough piece of the material to lay over the top of a coffee cup, he says, graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop the pencil.

    It's unlikely that graphene's incredible strength will be put to use in such a task.

    Really? Because the first thing I thought of when I heard about a new ultra-strong material was "Finally we have something to stretch over a coffee cup while balancing a car sitting atop a pencil upon it".
  • thashiz, on 07/17/2008, -0/+13I just ordered my "Buns of Graphene" VHS tapes. I'm gonna be so ripped.
    • cnosal, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3You still use VHS? Get the DVD, with an extra hour of exclusive bonus routines, only $9.99
  • Goldbricker, on 07/17/2008, -1/+0Anyone know who owns this? I'd like to invest.
    • Metasquares, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Nature owns it. But feel free to invest; it could use some preservation funding at the moment.
      • Goldbricker, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0You must live in the past. Science is a commodity these days. I guarantee fortunes will be made on this.
  • Changa, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3That stuff is nothing compared to pure dimondium.
    • macromorgan, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4Dimondium is crap... use Diamondillium instead.
    • DraxusD, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Diamondium and Diamondillium are equally crap
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