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+--- Thread: Something stronger than buckyfiber? (/showthread.php?tid=2904)
Something stronger than buckyfiber? - Alphadon - 05-22-2017
And it's monatomic wire, to boot.
I'm not sure if this will have a significant impact on the setting, as a method of stabilizing it without protective nanotube sheathing does not exist yet. However, magcarbyne would mean the strongest material that could ever exist. However, this does make those "mono-edged blades" potentially feasible again.
RE: Something stronger than buckyfiber? - Drashner1 - 05-22-2017
(05-22-2017, 04:28 AM)Alphadon Wrote: And it's monatomic wire, to boot.
I'm not sure if this will have a significant impact on the setting, as a method of stabilizing it without protective nanotube sheathing does not exist yet. However, magcarbyne would mean the strongest material that could ever exist. However, this does make those "mono-edged blades" potentially feasible again.
Not sure that this would count as a major change, but if the nanotube sheath could survive the stresses (and logically it might given that we have historically described buckyfiber as being used for beanstalks) then you could imagine the support cable for a beanstalk consisting of carbyne fibers sheathed in nanotube. So you could make stronger and more durable beanstalks. Similarly for mag-carbyne, a sheathed strand could be used as the basis for engineering that stresses even magmatter (whatever that might be).
Todd
RE: Something stronger than buckyfiber? - Alphadon - 05-22-2017
Neutron stars? Or is even mag-carbyne not enough?
RE: Something stronger than buckyfiber? - Alphadon - 05-23-2017
Also, note that unsheathed stable carbyne may eventually be developed, and it sounds exactly like the kind of thing transapients do best.
RE: Something stronger than buckyfiber? - stevebowers - 05-23-2017
Carbyne could be useful in other ways too. It exists in several different configurations, all of which have different energy levels and characteristics, so it could be used as a battery, or even as some sort of processor/memory system. It sounds like temperamental stuff to work with, though.
RE: Something stronger than buckyfiber? - Drashner1 - 05-24-2017
(05-22-2017, 10:39 PM)Alphadon Wrote: Neutron stars? Or is even mag-carbyne not enough?
Not sure, but IIRC the use of magmatter in the vicinity of a magnetar was once discussed. As I recall, even magmatter couldn't withstand the stresses involved, at least for any kind of complex structure. Not sure how much difference there is between a magnetar and a 'normal' neutron star, but it may be close enough that only very crude magmatter objects would have any hope of retaining structure there (think 'stone tool' levels of crude here).
That said, magmatter would still allow operations in far closer proximity to such objects than anything made of conventional matter, even if it was still limited in how close it could get.
Todd