[chaxor]

This is just an absolutely awful idea simply due to the weight.

The reason people are trying to get carbon nanotube electricity lines in the air is not because 'nano' is a cool word, but because they're really light while conducting electricity. Lead is, well, quite the opposite of that.

[kevin_thibedeau]

> This is just an absolutely awful idea simply due to the weight.

Buried cables used to be lead jacketed before viable polymers suitable for long term use were developed in the modern era.

[hammock]

Carbon nanoparticles might pose their own risk, though my intuition suggests the threat is not as immediate or great as that from lead

[scrlk]

It would not surprise me if carbon nanoparticles could act in a similar way to asbestos, if inhaled.

[chaxor]

This has already been shown to be true, many times.

There are significant problems with swcnts (and even more so with dwcnts or mwcnts, due to less effective macrophage breakdown from h2o2 release). But there are some applications where their use can be a large improvement. The fact that only very well trained professionals should ever come in contact with certain materials (like extremely high powered lines) makes this use case more acceptable. Additionally, concealing swcnts in a polymer and using extrusion methods of chlorosulfonic acid into carbon tetrachloride to make really compact nanowires can help quite a bit for making the product affect the public less if any problem may occur that downs the power lines.

[Gordonjcp]

Isn't it a problem that carbon is mostly one of the things you make nearly every resistor out of, instead of wires?

[chaxor]

Armchair swcnts are ballistic conductors. It matters quite a lot how that carbon is oriented.

[Gordonjcp]

How well do they conduct? At the moment aluminium is kind of the "sweet spot" between weight, cost, and conductivity.

[chaxor]

Ballistic conduction means 'perfect' conduction in a sense. There's no resistance. It's only for armchair swcnts though. Other metallic swcnts are also great conductors, but if you separate out the chiralities (semiconductors, etc) you might as well separate to just armchairs.