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Given strength and size and other properties that carbon nanotube ropes would need have... Wouldn't a carbon nanotube shoelace be like the worst idea ever? ...s
by Torkel 8y ago
Given strength and size and other properties that carbon nanotube ropes would need have... Wouldn't a carbon nanotube shoelace be like the worst idea ever? ...strong as a steel cable, but so thin as to be hard to see and handle. And brittle and not so good at bending. => First it slices up your hands when you tighten it and then it breaks when you tie it :)
- monk_e_boy 8y agoIts going to be very interesting when carbon nanotubes are combined with cloth. Ripstop cloth is a mix of plastics and line giving a fexible cloth that is very very strong. Its also airtight so you can inflate it (for a time - its not 100% without a bladder) Inflatables wings. Hulls. https://youtu.be/WgABFvqE8lY https://youtu.be/WgABFvqE8lY
- eponeponepon 8y agoI believe the expectation regarding carbon nanotubes in the sphere of space elevators is that they would be woven and layered into a sheet of human scale; these sheets would be used to construct a curved ribbon for the gondola to climb. You could apply the same principle and weave a bootlace from them, but the limits of current technology would render that an exceedingly expensive bootlace.
- sandworm101 8y agoGiven the amount needed for a space elevator, it better be cheap as shoelaces. At 10s of thousands of miles they should have more than enough on hand to disrupt the shoelace market.