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