Nanotubes Scientists can now build things out of just a few atoms. It's known as nanotechnology because a nanometer is about as wide as a few atoms standing side by side. Dr. Richard Smalley is a physics and chemistry professor at Rice University. And if you can imagine a roll of chicken wire made of just one layer seamlessly connected into a long tube, that is the structure of these tubes we're dealing with.
Nanotubes seem too good to be true.
One day scientists hope to build everything from cars and airplanes to electric power lines and bullet proof vests with nanotubes. We estimate 100 times stronger than the strongest steel at only one-sixth the weight. We are pretty confident that this is the strongest fiber that can ever be made out of anything, ever. I'm Deborah Byrd for Earth and Sky.