Hollow, pure carbon cylinders, one-billionth of a metre in diameter -- 1/50,000 the diameter of a human hair -- with a wall thickness of only one carbon atom, called buckytubes, are being produced under the guidance of Richard Smalley, nobel laureate for chemistry at Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc, USA. The balls, made from carbon dioxide, have the electrical conductivity of copper, the thermal conductivity of diamond and the tensile strength (the effort needed to stretch them) 10-times that of steel. Aside from possible uses for advanced materials, they could also be used in solar energy converters and lithium ion batteries.
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