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The idea of a space lift must be one of the wildest visions that nano science has come up with. The miniscule carbon nanotube, discovered in 1991, is the first material hard enough to be used for building a space lift, at least in theory.

“For such a lift to be built, nanotubes should be joined to form a rope that would be long enough,” Kai Nordlund, professor of physics. “For this to be possible, two criteria need to be met. An individual carbon nanotube must be long enough to be bound together, and the rope needs to be durable enough. The first criterion was met this autumn, when an American research team succeeded in making individual tubes longer than one centimetre.”

Nordlund sees that the chances of meeting the second criterion are very small. Carbon nanotubes can be joined together, but their mutual interaction is so low that the rope would not bear the weight of a lift.

Nordlund’s team is experimenting to achieve stronger joints between carbon nanotubes and the conductivity of a bunch of tubes by way of ion bombardment. Potential applications are in reality more mundane than the space lift. ”Nanotubes are used for car engines, tennis rackets and electronics. The tube bunches we study can possibly also be used in quantum computers.”

Nano science studies structures comprising of extremely small parts. Nordlund illustrates the size of his nanometre-wide research objects by comparing them to a football. The ratio is the same as that between a football and the globe.

UN has declared 2005 the international year of physics. It is one hundred years since Albert Einstein proposed the theory of relativity.

Text: Liisa Voutilainen
Photo: Kai Nordlund
www.helsinki.fi/digitalcommunications

Translation: Valtasana Oy

Relativity is also the theme of the Science Forum held this week at the University of Helsinki. The opening speech will be given by John D. Barrow, professor of astronomy from the University of Cambridge, entitled “Einstein and the Universe”. The opening will be held at the Great Hall on 12 January at 10 am.