Researchers: Lead Contains Strongest Substance on Earth
Monday, August 25, 2008
It's not the pen that's mightier than the sword — the lead in the humble pencil contains the strongest substance on Earth.
That finding, just published by Columbia University researchers in the journal Science, could lead to ultralight, paper-thin aircraft parts, super-tough bulletproof vests and even a 23,000-mile elevator to space long dreamed of by scientists.
Pencil lead — commonly known as graphite — is made up of one-atom-thick graphene sheets squeezed together. To learn about graphene's strength, postdoctoral researcher Changgu Lee had to figure out how to peel graphene sheets from graphite.
Once Lee found some defect-free graphene flakes — each 1/100th the width of a human hair — researchers tested their strength by trying to pierce them with atom-sized metal and diamond probes.
Professor Jeffrey Kysar, a mechanical engineer, explained graphene's strength this way: Lay a graphene sheet as thick as Saran Wrap over a muffin cup, and try to pierce it with a pencil.
"The force required to push that pencil through the graphene would be equal to the weight of an elephant or a small car," Kysar said.
"This is probably about 100 times stronger than the best steel you can buy."
