Attributes: Mass Estimates
Let's see how big and how heavy Fractal Buckymesh is:
Scale
In summary, this is a very light material (if you think about it you will realize that this is somewhat of an understatement). For comparison, the density of air is about 1.2 kg/m3(i.e. 0.0012 g/cm3). Fractal Buckymesh above scale 4 has a density much less than that of air:
Atoms
Length
Mass
1
nanojack
216
0.75 nm
2
super-nanojack
28,368
8.12 nm
6
each scale is about 11 times larger than the previous one
1.11e13
11,567 nm
4
etc.
4.90e8
952 nm
3
super-super-nanojack
3.26e6
88 nm
5
each scale is about 150 times heavier than the previous one
7.38e10
10,305 nm
7
i.e. each scale is about 1331 times more volume than the previous one
1.67e15
1.2 mm
8
see the legend below for an explanation of the units used
2.51e17
13 mm
9
3.78e19
142 mm
0.73 mg
10
nearly 5 feet and a feather-weight
5.69e21
1.5 m
0.11 g
11
54 feet and about half an ounce
8.55e23
16.6 m
17 g
12
585 feet and less than 6 pounds
1.29e26
180 m
2.57 kg
13
1.94e28
1.95 km
387 kg
Note
Legend:
nm nanometer 1 millionth of a millimeter
mm millimeter =~ 1/25th of an inch
cm centimeter 1 hundredth of a meter
m meter =~ 3.1 feet
mg milligram 1 thousandth of a gram
g gram =~ 1/32th of an ounce
kg kilogram =~ 2.2 pounds
All values are approximate
Length is the length of one arm (the width is about 80% of the length)
1e6 means a one with 6 zeroes i.e. 1,000,000
hence 5.69e21 = 5,690,000,000,000,000,000,000 (at scale 10)
See note regarding removing unnecessary arms to reduce mass.
Note that these estimates apply to Fractal Buckymesh. Basic Buckymesh is much heavier, and is approximately 5.9 times lighter than diamond, at .59 g/cm3, which is about half as dense as water, or twice as dense as cork (but see also Configurations and Ultralight, which describe significantly lighter versions of Basic Buckymesh).
The density estimates do not include any air molecules within the structure. Some applications such as dirigibles would need the air to be evacuated from the structure, requiring a surface envelope of some sort at the component level, possibly at scale 8 or 9.
For the technically minded, there are 6.022e23 atoms in a mole and one mole of carbon is approximately 12.011 grams.
7
125
1.67e15
1.2 mm
8
2.51e17
13 mm
9
3.78e19
142 mm
0.73 mg
10
73,600
5.69e21
1.5 m
0.11 g
11
645,800
8.55e23
16.6 m
17 g
12
5,447,000
1.29e26
180 m
2.57 kg
Scale
Atoms
Length
Mass
Times lighter than air
1,080
9,400
The lowest density aerogels weigh more than air, with a density of 0.003 g/cm3. Carbon nanotube sheets created by Ray Baughman and his team have a density half that, of 0.0015 g/cm3. Buckymesh is thousands of times lighter than either.
0.005 mg
0.005 mg
0.00003 mg
0.00003 mg
Density (g/cm3)
0.000,003,6
0.000,000,4
0.000,000,05
0.000,000,006
0.000,000,000,7
0.000,027
