Atomic Synthesis - Building with Carbon

[crims]

I have read on this subject only briefly in novels (Arthur Clarke's "2010: odyssey two", and Alexander Lazarevich's "The NanoTech Network"), so I'm interested if something like this is really possible. I really don't know much on the subject of chemistry, so I apologize if I say something that doesn't make sense.

 

 

 

My first question is, is it possible to create a lattice of carbon, like a metal, that conducts electricity?

 

My second question is, is it possible to arrange the structure of the lattice in such a way that it would have the chemical properties of a different substance?

 

My last question is, what affect do the combinations of neutrons, protons, and electrons have on the chemical properties of the substance? That is to say, if we knew the atomic structure of an atom, what can tell about the material it makes? (Because if we can emulate any substance with carbon, couldn't we create subtance with all the properties we wanted?)

[swansont]

Graphite conducts electricity.

[Ophiolite]

google for fullerenes.

[ed84c]

Is it possible to change the structure of the lattice in such a way that it would have the chemical properties of a different substance?

 

My last question is' date=' what affect do the combinations of neutrons, protons, and electrons have on the chemical properties of the substance? That is to say, if we knew the atomic structure of an atom, what can tell about the material it makes? (Because if we can emulate any substance with carbon, couldn't we create subtance with all the properties we wanted?)[/quote']

 

 

Chemical properties are set by the electron arrangement of each atom, AND the chemical is defined by the protons.

 

We know we can make buccy balls because we have 4 outer electrons which is great because it means we can join to loads of others and have stronger substances.

 

And we cant really "emulate" substances, as because i have allready noted, its to do with electron arrangement, AND the chemical is defined by the protons.

 

NB: When i say "Chemical properties" and noting electron arrangement, what i am really talking about there, is how it will react etc.

[Skye]

A conjugated (alternating double and single bonds) carbon chain or matrix will allow electrons to travel along it. This includes graphite and nanotubes, but also alot of molecules. There are experimental circuits being produced from organic molecules, the idea is that they should be cheaper to produce than silicon circuits because organic synthesis is fairly cheap. The main problem is that they aren't as good as silicon and tend to degrade, especially in uv light.

[crims]

Ok, I see that it's fairly established that carbon can be arranged to conduct electricity. Stupid question I guess. And I've learned a bit about special properties of carbon molecules from fullerenes (http://www.mindspring.com/~kimall/Fuller/fullerenes.html). But I really still don't understand if pure carbon molecules can have the properties of a wide variety of other substances (I don't mean to ignore ed84c, but I think there's some discrepency on this point).

 

I'll post reference to the original comments instead of trying to paraphrase it. Here's the comments I read in novel that I'm refering to:

 

-“No metals here. Everything made of carbon. Carbon is the most wonderful of all the chemical elements in the periodic table. Put the carbon atoms together in one way - and what you get is a graphite, a soft, electrically conductive material. But re-arrange the atoms in the crystal lattice just a little bit - and you end up with the hardest material in the world, and the best electrical insulator as well. And these are just the two extremes of the whole range of properties. In between, you can find materials with virtually any desired properties, the only thing you need to know is the pattern of the carbon atoms. And here we are talking about an element that can be “mined” directly from the ambient air, that is exactly what all the plant life on Earth does every day - mining carbon from air. This element is the basis for all the living things on Earth, and this explains the ease with which the creators of the cyborg-bacteria were able to combine seemingly incompatible things: live creatures with inanimate matter, organisms with mechanisms. They joined them so seamlessly that we cannot even figure out how they breed: whether they do it by conventional biological cell fission (this would mean that all the information about the cyborg’s mechanical part is stored in the genes), or whether the mechanical part of the daughter cell still has to be completed using mechanical manipulator arms of the mother cell. We have not yet observed the latter, while the former is too hard to believe in.”

[...]Another way was to stop using atoms of any chemical element other than carbon. By changing the atomic lattice of carbon, one can simulate the physical properties of virtually any substance.[...]

http://webcenter.ru/~lazarevicha/ntn_toc.htm

[swansont]

[...]Another way was to stop using atoms of any chemical element other than carbon. By changing the atomic lattice of carbon, one can simulate the physical properties of virtually any substance.[...]

 

Physical properties refer to mechanical interaction, e.g. strength, flexibility, conductivity. This is not the same as chemical properties, which is what was asked in the first post.

[crims]

I see, so carbon fullerenes possess many unique physical properties. Thank you, swansont, Ophiolite, ed84c, and Skye! I have learned all I wished to learn.