Carbon nanotubes: Saladin’s secret weapon

Royal Society of Chemistry ^ | 11/15/06 | Lionel Milgrom

[LibWhacker]

Crediting Medieval muslims with the discovery of carbon nanotubes is ridiculous, imo. It's like saying Saladin discovered calculus the day he poured goats milk from a container of unknown volume into a container of known volume (and thus figured out the volume of the unknown container).

[SpaceBar]

I agree. It's like saying people who threw mud at each other were taking advantage of complex aluminosilicate cation sheet structures with an affinity for water, on purpose.

[Dog Gone]

I don't think that's what it's saying.

They did create a superior steel for blades. They surely didn't call it nanotubes, and it was undoubtedly by trial and error.

But they did do it.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"To Europeans, Damascus steel blades seemed magical. Not only could they cut a piece of silk in half as it fell to the floor, they could cleave rocks and their own swords without losing sharpness."

I don't buy this.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Produced in India, wootz cakes were shipped to Damascus where expert sword smiths fashioned them into blades.

...

‘The nanotubes probably came from the addition of mandatory organic ingredients we know were added during wootz production, such as wood from the tree Cassia auriculata and leaves from Coltropis gigantean,’ said Paufler. ‘So, by empirically optimising their blade-treatment procedures, these craftsmen made nanotubes more than 400 years ago.’

Wouldn't this mean that the carbon nanotubes were actually the accidental creation of the Indians who formulated the wootz steel? And wouldn't this therefore be another addition to the list of Indian accomplishments for which credit has been claimed by Muslims, e.g. the "Arabic" numeral system we use today, Buddhist Jataka tales reformed as Arabian stories, the numerical concept of zero, etc.

[Tulsa Ramjet]

"poured goats milk from a container of unknown volume"

Or the hair from a camels chin mixed in a vat of persian mole piss produced the 8-track player.

[Moose4]

To a point, they could. There was nothing particularly magical about it, but Damascus steel was better than virtually anything being produced in Europe at the same time. Their swords were impressive weapons, probably second only to the Japanese swordsmiths who created those incomparable katanas and wakizashis.

}:-)4

[Centurion2000]

It appears their discovery was unwittingly pre-empted by mediaeval Muslim sword-smiths whose tough Damascus blades taught the Crusaders the true meaning of cold steel when they fought over the Holy Land.

WTF? No bias here.

[LibWhacker]

Exactly. Good point. I'm not certain, but I believe I have read about ancient Damascus swords of Indian origin that pre-dated the muslim invasions.

[spokeshave]

Ha....only great invention of the islamics...better head severing swords.

[LibWhacker]

Me either. Although the original damascus recipe has been lost forever, that kind of claim has to be myth.

[Brad from Tennessee]

The Japanese developed a "patterned" sword steel by smelting iron ore with charcoal and then heating, pounding, folding and refolding resulting in welded layers that have a strength and spring associated with lamination. If nanotubes are produced in this process I don't know. But I do know Damascus steel originated in India and is still produced there today and called "wootz."

[Paleo Conservative]

That's pretty sophisticated how they put in impurities from the first row of rare Earths on the periodic table. Mendeleev must have rediscovered medieval islamic knowledge of chemistry.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Until I see that demonstrated I won't believe this is more than folklore.

[Right Wing Assault]

I don't buy this.

Likewise.

[livius]

As usual, they stole it from somebody else. Curiously enough, the only technology they ever seem to steal is that intended for war. Or they steal non-war technology (like cell phones) and use it for killing. Great folks.

[King Moonracer]

Even the Syrians outsourced to India.

[LibWhacker]

Carbon nanotubes are no longer the proud boast of 21st century materials scientists.

I dunno... It sounds like the author expects 21st century materials scientists to share the credit for discovering carbon nanotubes with a bunch of illiterate Medieval head choppers. In science you don't get any recognition for making a discovery unless you know what it is you've "discovered" or produced.

[68skylark]

Yeah, I've always doubted that part about cutting a piece of silk in mid air. And I have even stronger doubts about cleaving rocks.

I'm sure these blades were good, but they weren't that good.

[wgflyer]

‘So, by empirically optimising their blade-treatment procedures, these craftsmen made nanotubes more than 400 years ago.’

And if so.....then so what? They promptly forgot the knowledge, along with the arithmetic and any other technological thing they claim to have "given" the human race and rushed out to buy air conditioners, cars, cell phones, perfume, ice cream and everything else their miserable culture hasn't produced ever since.