Grafeno: Trabajo final

El mineral más duro que existe en la naturaleza.

Actualmente se habla mucho de un material que está llamado a revolucionar el futuro por sus grandes aplicaciones potenciales en distintos campos, que van desde las telecomunicaciones o la fabricación de chips para ordenadores ultrarrápidos, hasta una nueva forma para elaborar fármacos contra el cáncer o incluso un ascensor espacial. No hablamos nada más ni nada menos que del grafeno, un material cuya dureza supera la del diamante.

Se dice que hasta entonces el grafeno era conocido como un material unicornio, es decir, solo desde un punto de vista teórico. Este mineral puede ser encontrado en la naturaleza a partir del grafito, así como también puede ser sintetizado a partir de metano y otros gases ya que su composición básica no es otra que átomos de carbono. Las investigaciones sobre el grafeno aún siguen en marcha y en sus primeras fases, aunque ya se puede fabricar, ahora el reto es conseguir niveles de alta calidad.

Para empezar, grafeno en sí es un material muy fácil de encontrar, tanto así, que incluso se puede obtener de las minas de los lápices. Las primeras muestras de este material que hoy asombra al mundo se obtuvieron mediante un proceso extremadamente simple que consistió en ir retirando con un trozo de cinta adhesiva las capas de la superficie de un pequeño bloque de grafito.

En segundo lugar, el grafeno es un material que pertenece al dominio de la Física Cuántica, hasta el momento es considerado uno de los materiales más fuertes incluso con sus defectos y en el mundo es visto como un recurso que puede revolucionar los avances más importantes en la tecnología.  Es tan carbono puro como el carbón, el grafito y el diamante, pero la forma en la que están “ordenados” los átomos cambia enormemente sus propiedades. El grafeno está compuesto de una capa de un átomo de grosor dispuesta en forma de panal de abeja, ideal para ser usado en áreas pequeñas, pero su uso práctico requiere superficies con mayores dimensiones. Esto demanda uniones con pequeños granos cristalinos que podrían debilitar el material y hacer que se rompa con más facilidad, sin embargo, se demostró que incluso con estas imperfecciones el grafeno no deja de ser un material fortísimo. ([1])

Se ha concluido que este material innovador es 200 veces más fuerte que el acero e incluso más que el diamante, y cuenta con una gran flexibilidad a pesar de su gran dureza y resistencia, sin mencionar su gran capacidad conductora.

 “El grafeno ha supuesto una auténtica revolución en la tecnología de materiales de principios del siglo XXI ya que la extrema delgadez que pueden alcanzar estos materiales se refleja en una ligereza sorprendente combinada con una dureza considerable”   – (Menéndez, El Carbón en la Vida Cotidiana: De la Pintura Rupestre Al Ascensor Espacial , 2012, pág. 126)([2])

Es importante reiterar que el grafeno es el material conocido más resistente. Expertos afirman que haría falta poner encima a un elefante balanceándose sobre un lápiz para romper una sola hoja de este material puesta sobre una taza de café, y se estima que para atravesar una lámina de grafeno con un objeto afilado sería necesario establecer un peso sobre él de aproximadamente cuatro toneladas. Un material que supera con creces al acero e incluso al diamante.

Es un resultado interesante para el futuro del grafeno, ya que proporciona la evidencia experimental de que la fuerza excepcional que posee en la escala atómica puede persistir en muestras más grandes, es por ello que mediante este material se planea desarrollar televisores que se enrollen, o materiales derivados que reemplacen a la fibra de carbono.

Esta fuerza será de gran valor para que los científicos continúen desarrollando nuevos productos electrónicos flexibles y materiales compuestos ultra fuertes

“Según sus descubridores, es 200 veces más fuerte que el acero estructural,  de manera que sería necesario un elefante concentrando todo su peso en un punto del tamaño de un lápiz para romper una hoja de este material del grosor de una película de plástico transparente (…)” – (Martínez, Cuanto pesa la Tierra, 2009, pág. 136) ([3])

Sin embargo las hojas de dicho material no son tan perfectas, éstas muestran una inesperada debilidad de acuerdo con investigaciones recientes. El talón de Aquiles de este súper material del futuro se halla en forma de un anillo de siete átomos, que inevitablemente tiene lugar en las uniones de los límites de grano del grafeno, donde se interrumpe el grupo regular de unidades hexagonales. En dichos puntos, bajo tensión, el grafeno poli cristalino tiene la mitad de fuerza que las muestras cristalinas del material. Esto podría ser importante para la ciencia de materiales que usa grafeno en aplicaciones donde su fuerza intrínseca es un factor clave, como materiales compuestos y electrónica flexible o maleable.

En consecuencia cuando el grafeno se encuentra bajo algún tipo de fuerza, esta y otras imperfecciones pueden causar perturbaciones que se propagan a través de la estructura del nano material. Por lo tanto, termina siendo mucho más frágil de lo que se pensaba anteriormente, poniendo en duda una serie de usos alternativos que se imaginaron antes, incluyendo el campo de la tecnología. Sin embargo, no se sabe  de aplicaciones prácticas de este descubrimiento. Debido a esto, sólo podemos esperar que esta debilidad sea  manejable y que muchas innovaciones tecnológicas se puedan  iniciar en un futuro próximo.

En conclusión se puede afirmar como indica la tesis inicial, que el grafeno es un material cuya dureza supera a la del diamante gracias a su gran capacidad de resistencia, la cual ha sido demostrada mediante el cálculo del peso necesario para romper su estructura. Si bien nos encontramos frente al material más duro del mundo, incluso más que el acero y el mismísimo diamante, se confirma que éste posee un gran flexibilidad y el objetivo ahora es utilizar este recurso innovador en el ámbito tecnológico para la creación de nuevos dispositivos, lo que marcará un hito y una nueva era en la tecnología. Sin embargo, a pesar de su gran rigidez y flexibilidad se ha planteado que esta materia posee un “talón de Aquiles” que podría ser perjudicial en los nuevos avances, pero aún no se han hecho demostraciones prácticas y verificables que prueben lo contrario, por lo tanto, el grafeno seguirá siendo la materia prima más fuerte jamás conocida.

Webgrafía:

-Andrew Shea | Madrid (publicado el día 03/06/13 a las 14:06 hrs) “Confirman que el grafeno es el material más fuerte del mundo (incluso con defectos)”:

http://www.abc.es/ciencia/20130603/abci-confirman-grafeno-material-fuerte-201306031135.html

-Cesar Gutiérrez (publicado el día 28/07/08 sin hora) “Se confirma que el grafeno es el material más fuerte del mundo”

http://www.tendencias21.net/Se-confirma-que-el-grafeno-es-el-material-mas-fuerte-del-mundo_a2459.html

-“El grafeno” (sin fecha de publicación)

http://grafeno-tecnologia.blogspot.com/p/varias-aplicaciones.html

-“Gracias al grafeno podrás enrollar tu tv” (sin fecha de publicación)

http://scientiaetec.blogspot.com/2013/06/gracias-al-grafeno-podras-enrollar-tu-tv.html

-“Vilvo” (publicado el 03/04/13 a las 12:26) “Incluso el grafeno tiene puntos débiles”

http://xdciencia.blogspot.com/2013/04/incluso-el-grafeno-tiene-puntos-debiles.html

-“Científicos encuentran la debilidad del grafeno” (sin fecha de publicación)

http://gadgetsytecnologia.com/noticias-cientificas/cientificos-encuentran-la-debilidad-en-el-grafeno/

[1] Fuente: http://www.abc.es/ciencia/20130603/abci-confirman-grafeno-material-fuerte-201306031135.html

[2] Fuente: http://books.google.cl/books?id=kPrJQptYdzsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=el+carbon+en+la+vida+cotidiana&hl=es-419&sa=X&ei=tIOiUsXXL5e-sQTu64BI&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=el%20carbon%20en%20la%20vida%20cotidiana&f=false

[3] Fuente: http://books.google.cl/books?id=OZTnXWVT-tkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cuanto+pesa+la+tierra&hl=es-419&sa=X&ei=gYSiUsnBHIrNsQSZ4ILwBQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=cuanto%20pesa%20la%20tierra&f=false

General Reflection

In my opinion, this subject was very useful to increase my knowledge about how to write correctly and to know some things that I ignored in the past like the steps to follow to write a better paragraph as brainstormin. It is always good to learn new things and I did it during the time I took this subject, specially in the area of vocabulary and rules of writing that are very necessary to develop texts correctly and in a fluent way.

I really enjoyed writing each text, because the topics were interesting and motivate and gave me many ideas for writing them, in general, I think that the best way for developing a paragraph is by being inspired in topics of general interest or preference to the person that is going to write. 

In terms of my personal progress although I learned things that I didn't know, I think that I still need to learn more to be better, that is my goal until I finish my career and after that too. It is always best to keep learning and not being stuck in one point of something.

Summer anecdote: One careless girl

Summer is the time I use a lot of different t-shirts. One day it was too hot and as a habit I tend to change my t-shirts a lot, so I did it. Hours later I went out with my friends to many places like the beach, the mall and downtown. It was all quite funny and good. Then after all that journey I finally met with my boyfriend. I was feeling a very strange sensation, like if he was staring at me for a long time, so I asked him what was happening and he said to me that my t-shirt was backwards. I felt so ashamed and went to a bathroom as soon as posible and put it the right way. All of this because I change my t-shirts and use different ones more than two times in a day.

In this work I didn't have many problems, and it was funny to me to write it because it was based on a funny experience of my life. It is a narration and it was useful to me to rehearse this kind of paragraph.

Descriptive Paragraph: Smiles on December

December is charged of hustle and bustle. It's the time of the year when Christmas comes and you see malls and departament stores decorated and full of colors. Because of Christmas its the time when you do a lot of shopping for your most loved people. December is also the time of the year in which you eat a lot of candies and you can feel the sweet atmosphere in the city. This month is full of end-of-year parties that is a tradition that has stayed for long time, and makes the last month more happy and relaxing.

This work was very familiar to me, it was similar to the description of a place but talking about a month. In this paragraph I learned new vocabulary and a different structure to develop it correctly.

Sensorial Paragraph: Love for summer

Summer season awakes my spirit and mood. The fresh sea breeze touching my skin help me to remind that free days are here already and its time for a break after a long year. Summer is the time of the year when you can watch the most beautiful sunsets and enjoy a good time on the relaxing beach, to let your mind fly in a deep journey of joy. The best of this season are summer vacations, the most waited time in the year specially because you left obligations behind to travel, rest and everything related to do nothing but funny activities as much as you can, and plus this comes Christmas time to receive lots of love and presents. Even if a this time is full of days in which high temperatures are common, it is a perfect excuse to sit on the green and fresh grass to eat lots of ice cream. Nothing as sweet and perfect than that.

This paragraph was a totally new experience for me, because I had never wrote a paragraph based on the things I feel around me like the smell, touch or something. It was very funny because I remember things that I like too much of a season.

Pingu's Family Christmas

There was Christmas time in the arctic pol and a family of four penguins were prepared to celebrate. They were preparing the things for the Holly Night. Mom penguin was baking cookies while her little penguin sons were playing an interactive game. The two little penguins stopped playing, and decided to help their mother with the cookies. They painted them and their mother put them in the oven. When the cookies were ready their mother took them, but at first she realized that they were too hot and she put on a pair of gloves to not burn her hands. After that moment father penguin arrived home and the two little penguins went to see him, he had a present in his hands and his sons wanted to open it but he told them that they had to wait until night. Then he went to see mother penguin in the kitchen and saw the cookies but she didn't let him to touch or eat one and told him to buy a christmas tree. Father penguin took his two sons and went to a place for a tree, when they arrived the youngest son saw a very big tree and the older a ver little one, but their father selected a medium one that was perfect and he bought it. When they arrived home mother penguin came out with christmas decoration and the little penguins were too excited, but when she was taking them to the tree she fell down and father penguin got angry with her, because she dropped the things. After that they started to argue about and their sons started to cry, but when they saw them stopped for their happiness. When the fight stopped the little penguins entered the house and prepared presents for their parents while they decorated the tree, and then when they went to put them under the tree they were surprised because of the amount of presents that were there. The family started to open the presents, they were very happy with each present that nothing could bring down their happiness, so they started to sing Christmas carols.

END

Writing this paragraph was a new experience for me, because before I never had the oportunity to create a narration by looking a video previously and it's very useful because it contributed in my creativity and also the use of more vocabulary.

House Description

Real estate E.N.A.P. brings to you to today a beautiful house model Sun Prairie. 2 floors with basement included. Garage, 4 Bedrooms and 3 Bathrooms. Living room, dining room and citchen all connected in a single room, storage room near of the kitchen, laundry room all nice distributed in the 2 floors of the house, oh, I also should mention the including of a really big personal garden. 

All the rooms have windows at their sides for make the sunlight penetrate in the house and filling it with the daylight. Pay attention to the nicely done floors of the house, with a special distribution of carpets and floors made of wood. All this makes the ambient feels really cozy, perfect for families and especially for children.

This house is ubicated in the suburbs, but not for that detail you would believe all is far away of you. The shops and commodities, like supermarkets, Malls, schools  even go to the downtown it takes no time from your house here in the suburbs all thanks to highway that connects with the city, and if any of you doesn’t have a vehicle, no problem!, public transport even makes routes until here, so the distance should be not a problem to anyone.

Still not convinced? Come to talk with us in person. We have headquarters around all the country and employees ready for ask all your questions. Come to Real estate E.N.A.P. Come to home

Garden: It’s a large area of land around the house that has grass, on the bottom of grass you can find small stones that made a path that leads you to the house, also you can plant flowers, fruit,vegetable, etc, usually with a lawn. The garden can incorporate natural product or artificial made by  man-made materials, as suggestive idea, you can build or decorate your garden with goblins, flower pots, design  a relaxing environment  for making good reading and interesting conversation, or make it appropriate for children and  their played.

Sitting Room: A semi room used for resting and receiving people. There is a wide white room divided into two sides, the right side of the room has two little windows that are separated from each other and have brown short curtains over it. In the middle of both windows there are two rectangle-shaped pictures with flowers that are in vertical way. Down these pair of pictures there is situated a white sofa with four cushions over it: two burgundy and two dotted. In both sides next to the sofa there are two medium brown round tables with lamps on it and some portraits. In front of the sofa there is a brown rectangle table with black porcelain ve-ls that are on it.

Bathroom: It is a square place used as a bathroom, where the principal furniture is a round, white bathtub, actually a jacuzzi. The walls are painted grey combined with light brown and have a nice painting of flowers, also you can use other types of paintings to make you feel more comfortable and happy if you want.The wall that is in the background  has a window  made of opaque glass that can be used for ventilation and clarity in a summer or spring season, in the other wall  there is a type of grip  to put  towels but in other cases can be used to put  clothes and that sort of things too. The grip has a towel that is white with a red tape. Around the bath in one corner of it, it is a  floral arrangement to decorate the bathroom in general and in the other corner  there are a few of naturals and minerals products made to take a relaxing bath. Within the same bathroom in front of the jacuzzi there is a sink, supported by a dark, brown and hard wood, the sink has two options: hot and cold water. Over the sink there is a large mirror from wall to  wall, which reflects the electric light throughout the bathroom in general, giving a warm atmosphere. In the other side of the bathroom, beside the  jacuzzi is located a shower with sliding windows  that give an elegant touch to the bathroom.

The Main  Bedroom: This room is one of the biggest  in the house, making it comfortable, the walls have two colors, light peach making it relaxing and deep red making it romantic. At the beginning of the room it`s a brown piece of furniture with five drawers and ten white handlebars for stuff, at the top of the furniture it’s a red lamp combining with the colours of the walls. In the middle of the light peach wall is a passage  and  two others little rooms, both are wardrobes that one can be  for the wife and the other for the husband. In the deep red wall is a window with a beautiful view. The bed is a king bed very comfortable  and is resistant because is made of wood, the blanket is floral with cheerful colours like  red, white, green, and yellow, the pillows are of the same color except one that is red making combination with the atmosphere of the room. Next to the bed is other window, equal to the other mentioned before, making illuminated it. If we keep moving in the bedroom we can see a brown couch with a red pillow with white details, you can use it for read a book, made some calls, or just rest. The last furniture is bigger and you can store bed clothing, at the back is a big and beautiful mirror. We can find at  the end of the corridor a beautiful and comfortable bathroom with a jacuzzi for a relaxing and romantic night.

Kitchen: This is a cozy kitchen, very well equipped, full of appliances, cupboards and cabinets. At the right it’s a large cupboard made of wood and a grey, marble kitchen countertop. Over of it, we can see some jars and bottles that you can use it for condiments, there is also a big and useful sink.  At the back  we can see a grey stove, and over of it, is a microwave surrounded by many cabinets made of light brown wood that are spread throughout the room, so you will not have problems for keeping your stuff. At the left corner it’s a white door that takes you to a small room, in which you can keep more grocery, and at the left of it, there are more cabinets, and a cupboard. The cupboard has some drawers with some decorations over of it, like a red vase, a flower pot, etc. There is also a big, grey refrigerator with two doors.  Finally, in the center of the room, we can see an island with two drawers and two doors of the same color of all the other cupboards of the room, over the countertop of the island it’s a plate with little stones decorating it. So even when is a small kitchen is well equipped for cook anything you like, and also to spend a good time cooking.

Kitchen dining room: It is a small and a comfortable room in which you can see a large table 

made of wood. On the table there are some table mats, two candelabra and in the middle one flower arrangement to beautify the place. Around of the table there are six chairs made of wood too. Next to the table, there is a window with a small curtain. At the back you can see a big, green plant. In the other side of the wall there is a picture with four different colors. Between the plant and the picture, there is a cupboard made of wood and in the doors there are glasses. In general, walls are white in this room, you can see it side to side, but at the back there is a red wall and those colors make a perfect match.

Children Bedroom: There are two comfortable bedrooms for kids on the second floor. The first one is a baby boy bedroom with a white door and two-colored painted walls which are white and deep red, and a large window with a short curtain. When you enter the room you can see a wardrobe at the right. In front of the wardrobe there’s a one-size bed with red and green pillows, a toy stuff and a multi-coloured bedspread covering the bed. The bed is surrounded by many toys such a red plastic ball, boxes, etc. Next to the bed there’s a night table with a lamp and a toy. At the left side of the room there’s a white door, where you can save your clothes and different stuffs. On the walls, just behind the bed, you can see a large portrait with a big dinosaur painted on it and the name of the person who lives here next to it. Next to the window, there’s a bag hanging from the wall and a dinosaur plushie. There's a carpet on the floor so the person who lives here can walk barefoot inside the room.

Finally, as you can see, this is a quiet and comfortable room where your kid can enjoy and be happy here.

The second one is a girl bedroom. This room is a bit bigger than the first one and has orange-

painted walls, two large windows with short and green curtains and carpeted floor. When you enter the room, you can see a big desk with many writing materials at the left, a red lamp and a large mural on the wall with many pieces of paper. Next to the desk, there's a white wardrobe with a big green box on it and a portrait behind. On the right side and in the center of the room, there's a big bed with floral-printed bedspread and green sheet. There are red and blue pillows and a small pillow with them, and a toy on the bed. At the both sides of the bed, you can see two white night tables with lamps of the same color and two little pictures. Behind the bed, there's another picture with flowers on it. 

Finally, there are objects and a bag hanging on the wall next to the bed, and many stuff on the floor, such a bag and skates. As you can see, it's a comfortable place where your daughter can relax and enjoy her time in the room.



This long text of a house description taught me of the group or collaborative  job, also how to describe correctly a place, how to order and where to start and where to finish. It was very funny, but also a little stressful because it was too long.