Discovery

Even today, amazing discoveries can come from seemingly simple experiments:

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Graphene discovery may lead to faster computers

Electronic devices, from mobile phones to computers, could work much faster if they were made from the thinnest substance in the world, scientists from Manchester University have discovered.

Studies on graphene, a revolutionary material made of a single layer of carbon atoms, have revealed that electrons – subatomic particles that result in electricity – travel many times faster than in silicon, the basis of all modern computer chips.

Professor Kostya Novoselov of Manchester University, who shared last year's Nobel prize in physics with colleague Andre Geim for their work on graphene, said research on layers of the material held in a vacuum has shown that electrons behave very differently when travelling through graphene.

Professor Geim and Professor Novolosev discovered graphene by using Scotch tape to peel away layers of carbon from a piece of graphite (pencil lead).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/graphene-discovery-may-lead-to-faster-computers-2319914.html