Graphene

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon. You're probably wondering what an allotrope is? It means a property of some chemical element that exists in two or more molecular components, these are known as allotropes of that element. An example would be if you take carbon which has four allotropes you would get the first allotrope which is a diamond, the second would be graphite, the third would be graphene, and the fourth would be fullerenes. Back to graphene, an article found on bigthink.com entitled, "Graphene Will Change the Way we Live" talks about the first explorations of graphene in 1974 by a man named, Philip Wallace. In the past 6 years scientists have been looking into this remarkable element and have discovered that is can help aid in some amazing things. First and foremost graphene is today, the thinnest possible material to date. Although it's extremely thin it is said to be almost 200 times stronger than steel and can conduct electricity better than anything we have out there now. Amazing right? But where does this come into play with media? The potential uses for this material is almost endless. Prospected uses include making aircrafts much lighter and stronger, graphene sensors that would be able to sniff out any dangerous molecules, stronger medial implants and materials, advancements with LCD touch screens on phones and other technological devices, and the list goes on and on. Graphene could be the most revolutionary product out there, and could aid in so many things.


Links:
http://bigthink.com/ideas/24381
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotrope