Graphene Sword/Blade

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I found this interesting, on someone's website:

https://sites.google.com/site/grapheneswords/


" Imagine a sword that weighs less than an ounce (or even a gram).
So thin, that if you looked at the blade edge on, it would be invisible.
So strong and stiff, that you could use it as a lever to lift a car.
So sharp, that if you grabbed the blade, your fingers would simply fall off.
So durable, that it would never need to be sharpened, ever.
The blade would be impervious even to lasers.

A twelve year old armed with a graphene sword could slice through an M1 Abrahms Tank like it was made of butter.
Even depleted uranium is no match. The only object that could withstand graphene sword is a graphene shield.
It is a material straight out of science fiction; 200 times stronger than steel, yet, thousands of times
lighter.
"

[Clip]

Yeah but what angle was the edge run at?

[SolidState]

That is so fundamentally wrong about the actual properties of graphene that it is ridiculous - as in worthy of ridicule.

Anyone who asserts that "There is another form of carbon where the graphene sheets are tightly bound to each other, often called a girl's best friend, or Diamond." knows nothing of either structure, nor the methods of determining them.
Graphene has each carbon atom strongly bound to only 3 others in a trigonal-planar fashion. Some would say that it is sp2-hybridized carbon.

On the other hand, diamond is tetrahedrally coordinated. It is sp3 hybridized by the previously-discussed description of the atomic orbital arrangement.

The crystals are so different that the assertion simply proves the person knows nothing of value about either structure; therefore, the author cannot be believed in asserting anything about the properties of either structure. Please tell me this is just to troll scientists...

[defenestrate]

Please tell me this is just to troll scientists...

More likely to dupe people out of money, at least in the form of page views.

[Jeremy_A_Neel]

Isn't graphene supposed to be incredibly flexible? Like, being used as a transistor for paper thin, foldable electronics?

[SolidState]

Isn't graphene supposed to be incredibly flexible? Like, being used as a transistor for paper thin, foldable electronics?

It has plausible application in flexible electronics for the reasons you list. You are correct.

[Dragul]

Graphene is a 2D material. It is ultra flexible because it is 2D. In fact, when there's no 3rd dimension, there's literally no resistance to bending. Graphene can be made into 3D materials by sandwiching 2D layers. It's funny but some manufacturers are already marketing graphene in their products. Head tennis rackets and skis supposedly have a graphene layer: https://www.head.com/en/sports/ski/technology/graphene/
If you look at the schematic, you can see it's all hype and little substance (graphene). How can something likely almost invisibly thin and the size of postage stamp give integrity to a ski - remember my first line about a 2D material being flexible. In this case it's probably limp.
Scientific American also calls into question whether some of the products manufacturers identify as graphene may not be graphene: https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... -the-hype/
Most graphene is incredibly expensive. You can make low-tech, low-grade, low-cost graphene by making pencil scratches on plastic and picking the scratches up on a piece of Scotch tape. That's how the first graphene was made.

[Dragul]

Graphene is a 2D material. It is ultra flexible because it is 2D. In fact, when there's no 3rd dimension, there's literally no resistance to bending. Graphene can be made into 3D materials by sandwiching 2D layers. It's funny but some manufacturers are already marketing graphene in their products. Head tennis rackets and skis supposedly have a graphene layer: https://www.head.com/en/sports/ski/technology/graphene/
If you look at the schematic, you can see it's all hype and little substance (graphene). How can something likely almost invisibly thin and the size of postage stamp give integrity to a ski - remember my first line about a 2D material being flexible. In this case it's probably limp.
Scientific American also calls into question whether some of the products manufacturers identify as graphene may not be graphene: https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... -the-hype/
Most graphene is incredibly expensive. You can make low-tech, low-grade, low-cost graphene by making pencil scratches on plastic and picking the scratches up on a piece of Scotch tape. That's how the first graphene was made.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Thank you Dragul, very interesting there!

I think 3d covalent bonded gem stone like networks are more versatile when it comes to edged and structural materials. For example check this wiki log about atomic precise materials out:

http://apm.bplaced.net/w/index.php?titl ... d#Chlorine

From the wiki:

" Gemstone like materials encompass all materials that:
have their atoms not moving around on their surfaces at room temperature but have them stay where they are for decades to eons. (they do not diffuse)
are stiff enough to keep their shape under thermal movement at room temperature (this excludes all of today's plastic polymeres)
have dense three dimensional networks of covalent bonds like gemstones - (short bond loops prevent rotations around single bonds)
"

Unlike graphene's properties like you pointed out, these types of gemstonoids would be strong and hard and could be made non-brittle with control over the atomic structure, ie, like putting in crack-stopping fibers and stuff.

[Knife Knut]

Graphene blades are still a bit down the road. Currently we do have vibroblades within our grasp and in specialized use, but are still tethered to a power supply and signal generator.