carbon fibers (fwd)

[Jim Choate <ravage@EINSTEIN.ssz.com>]

Forwarded message:

> Subject: carbon fibers
> Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 21:11:00 -0500 (CDT)
> From: ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home)

> Reading all the discussions about Jim Bell, I became interested in
> the carbon fibers that Jim allegedly planned to use to disrupt the
> work of compiters.
> 
> I would appreciate if anyone explained me how these fibers work, how
> small and thin they are, and so on. I am also curious when and how this
> use of these fibers was invented.

Carbon is commenly used in electronics because when compressed it generates
a small voltage, ala your phone receiver.

It can be both a insulator or a conductor depending on how one fills the
outer valence band. Because its 'natural' state is -4 (it has 8 positions
and only 4 are filled with electrons) it makes a fair conductor. Yet, it is
not listed in most Activity Series for metals. I believe the idea is that
since it is a reasonable conductor that when it falls across parallel lands
on the pcb of a cpu it will short the lines. This would not only affect the
reliability of the data because of current leakage but might in some cases
cause an actual failure because of incorrect voltage or current.

Some relevant physical data to consider: [1]

Data from the Periodic Table:

Carbon (C)
6/12.011
Valences     +2, +4, -4
2.62 g/cm^3 @ STP
M.P.  4100
B.P.  4470
Hexagonal crystal structure
Electronegativity 2.55 (metal)

(if anyone can find the conductivity I would appreciate it, it wasn't in
[1] or the CRC that I have)





[1] The Addison-Wesley Science Handbook: For scientists, writers, and
                                         science buffs
    G.J. Coleman, D. Dewar
    ISBN 0-201-76652-3

                                                     Jim Choate
                                                     CyberTects
                                                     ravage@ssz.com