**Ask a monkey a physics question thread**

[pantherhound]

Dunno if these are more chemistry questions, but I've got some questions about graphene and can't find the answers anywhere. So help would be most appreciated!
1. What does graphene feel like to touch? Could you cut yourself on the edge?
2. Can you spray paint it to make it visible to the naked eye? If not, why?
3. What can you do to make it visible? Are there any circumstances in which it reflects light?

Thanks

[chemist]

Dunno if these are more chemistry questions, but I've got some questions about graphene and can't find the answers anywhere. So help would be most appreciated!
1. What does graphene feel like to touch? Could you cut yourself on the edge?
2. Can you spray paint it to make it visible to the naked eye? If not, why?
3. What can you do to make it visible? Are there any circumstances in which it reflects light?

Thanks

1) It is one atom thick, so you can't feel it or be cut by it.
2) It is one atom thick, so you can't visibly spray it.
3) It is one atom thick, so you need an electron microscope to view it.

graphene monolayer monocrystals are harder to make than 22nm silicon wafers.

There is a lot of pseudo science (notably on you tube) about graphite claiming graphene properties which probably makes it hard to find the answers anywhere.
Though you might even have some unusable bits on your barbeque, top or bottom.

In the 22nd Century they will probably laugh at how little we knew about carbon.
(And all the things you want to do will probably be possible, when it cuts and reflects like diamonds, semi-conducts better than silicon, is thinner and stronger than carbon fibre, and will be as easy to use as spraying in any thickness or shape. And also make long lasting powerful small capacitors to replace batteries).

[pantherhound]

1) It is one atom thick, so you can't feel it or be cut by it.
2) It is one atom thick, so you can't visibly spray it.
3) It is one atom thick, so you need an electron microscope to view it.

graphene monolayer monocrystals are harder to make than 22nm silicon wafers.

There is a lot of pseudo science (notably on you tube) about graphite claiming graphene properties which probably makes it hard to find the answers anywhere.
Though you might even have some unusable bits on your barbeque, top or bottom.

In the 22nd Century they will probably laugh at how little we knew about carbon.
(And all the things you want to do will probably be possible, when it cuts and reflects like diamonds, semi-conducts better than silicon, is thinner and stronger than carbon fibre, and will be as easy to use as spraying in any thickness or shape. And also make long lasting powerful small capacitors to replace batteries).

Thanks. But I still don't get why you can't feel it. I read that theoretically a single sheet of graphene can support the weight of a cat over a big enough surface area. Does that mean the cat would look like it's floating in midair? If you can't feel it, can you put your hand straight through it? If so, how is it possible that it supports weight?

[MadMojoMonkey]

Dunno if these are more chemistry questions, but I've got some questions about graphene and can't find the answers anywhere. So help would be most appreciated!
1. What does graphene feel like to touch? Could you cut yourself on the edge?
2. Can you spray paint it to make it visible to the naked eye? If not, why?
3. What can you do to make it visible? Are there any circumstances in which it reflects light?

Thanks

Oh... the original questions:

1) I covered this above. It is utterly lacking in the rigidity to cut you if you touched it on its edge. The substrate might cut you, though.

2) Umm... I guess the adhesive/substrate could be construed as "paint" but I don't think that's altogether accurate... it's more like the graphene is painted onto the substrate, but that's an abusively rude simplification of a very complicated task. It occurs to me that the spraying would be an indelicate way to apply a coating, but maybe I'm not thinking on the right scale.

Bottom line is that I think you were asking if graphene could be coated, and the answer is yes.

3) Light will reflect at the slightest provocation. See Snell's Law for more info. Snell's Law pontificates what I said about Index of Refraction - with math.
I think I'm safe to say... Yes, any surface reflects at least some frequencies of light from some angles.

Electrically conductive materials (most metals) tend to be shiny because they conduct electricity - and light is electricity. In that case, incoming waves stimulate movement in the electrons in the conductor which radiate new waves, with the same frequency as the incoming waves. This is a different kind of reflection that is not based on Snell's Law.