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Graphene flakes and carbon nanotubes are already relatively common in the environment as they are naturally occurring. You get carbon nanotubes in ordinary soot

Graphene flakes and carbon nanotubes are already relatively common in the environment as they are naturally occurring. You get carbon nanotubes in ordinary soot, for instance.

adrianN 13y ago
Yes, and ordinary soot is not something you want to have regular contact with.
- Sharlin 13y ago
  What about pencils? They're pretty much based on rubbing graphite on paper so that tiny graphene flakes break away and stick on the paper.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  I thought it was lucky. Besides, it has been used in cosmetics for millennia.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    Breathing ordinary soot is sub-optimal.
    - moocowduckquack 13y ago
      The set of things that are sub optimal to breathe is pretty wide ranging though. I agree that breathing soot is not great, but I don't think this is particularly because it contains CNTs, as much as because it is a fine particulate that can get into and block up alveoli. I can't think of any fine particulates off the top of my head that are particularly good to breathe in.
reyan 13y ago
Soot is the first known environmental carcinogen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_sweeps'_carcinoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_sweeps'_carcinoma).
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  I think Paracelsus description of lung cancer in miners might predate that. "Paracelsus was a pioneer in chemistry and chemotherapy. He introduced mercury, lead, sulfur, iron, zinc, copper, arsenic, iodine, and potassium as internal remedies. But he gave due warning in his writings that all chemicals are potentially poisons, and concentration and dose are what make them poisonous or nonpoisonous. His collected papers on chemotherapy of various ailments, including cancers, were published by his followers in 1567 in a book,4De Grandibus. In it, there is the first description of industrial cancer, cancer of the lung in miners of metal ores and in the workers who smelted the ore." from here - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.25825/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.25825/full

Graphene flakes and carbon nanotubes are already relatively common in the environment as they are naturally occurring. You get carbon nanotubes in ordinary soot, for instance.

adrianN 13y ago

Yes, and ordinary soot is not something you want to have regular contact with.

Sharlin 13y ago
What about pencils? They're pretty much based on rubbing graphite on paper so that tiny graphene flakes break away and stick on the paper.
moocowduckquack 13y ago
I thought it was lucky. Besides, it has been used in cosmetics for millennia.
- DanBC 13y ago
  Breathing ordinary soot is sub-optimal.
  - moocowduckquack 13y ago
    The set of things that are sub optimal to breathe is pretty wide ranging though. I agree that breathing soot is not great, but I don't think this is particularly because it contains CNTs, as much as because it is a fine particulate that can get into and block up alveoli. I can't think of any fine particulates off the top of my head that are particularly good to breathe in.

reyan 13y ago

Soot is the first known environmental carcinogen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_sweeps'_carcinoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_sweeps'_carcinoma).

moocowduckquack 13y ago
I think Paracelsus description of lung cancer in miners might predate that. "Paracelsus was a pioneer in chemistry and chemotherapy. He introduced mercury, lead, sulfur, iron, zinc, copper, arsenic, iodine, and potassium as internal remedies. But he gave due warning in his writings that all chemicals are potentially poisons, and concentration and dose are what make them poisonous or nonpoisonous. His collected papers on chemotherapy of various ailments, including cancers, were published by his followers in 1567 in a book,4De Grandibus. In it, there is the first description of industrial cancer, cancer of the lung in miners of metal ores and in the workers who smelted the ore." from here - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.25825/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.25825/full