Comment Re:just the space elevator? (Score 1) 97
Nanotubes' 20 K critical temperature (T_c) does not come close to a high temperature superconductor.
High T_c is usually defined as above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, a good, cheap, plentiful, environmentally-friendly coolant, which is 77 K. This implies that liquid nitrogen can be used to keep the material superconducting, a property which drops costs and engineering challenges dramatically. Nanotubes' more popular and practical properties are its tensile strength (i.e. space elevator), and its *thermal* superconductivity (i.e. badass heatsink).
Furthermore, it's ideal for high-power electrical transformer applications because it conducts electricity with low resistance in only one dimension, eliminating pesky, dissipative eddy currents. A friend of mine patented this application.
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e+ ---> <--- e-
Fatal Attraction
High T_c is usually defined as above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, a good, cheap, plentiful, environmentally-friendly coolant, which is 77 K. This implies that liquid nitrogen can be used to keep the material superconducting, a property which drops costs and engineering challenges dramatically. Nanotubes' more popular and practical properties are its tensile strength (i.e. space elevator), and its *thermal* superconductivity (i.e. badass heatsink).
Furthermore, it's ideal for high-power electrical transformer applications because it conducts electricity with low resistance in only one dimension, eliminating pesky, dissipative eddy currents. A friend of mine patented this application.
----
e+ ---> <--- e-
Fatal Attraction
