How come we don't use carbon for guns and cars?

[Deleted]

Considering it's the strongest metal known to mankind. It'd be expensive for sure, but if we stepped up the artificial process of producing them we'd be able to build big things in no time. For example, if Trump ever builds that wall, wouldn't it be a shame if it got destroyed by a hurricane? Well if you built it out of it you'd be able to have it stand permanently just like the china wall.

You could also use it for guns and cars, especially cars since if your car is made out of carbon you can crash it into a wall and the car would survive unscathed.

[Azadina]

http://www.otavanopisto.fi/aikuislukio

All I can add. Use it.

[Elim Garak]

Considering it's the strongest metal known to mankind. It'd be expensive for sure, but if we stepped up the artificial process of producing them we'd be able to build big things in no time. For example, if Trump ever builds that wall, wouldn't it be a shame if it got destroyed by a hurricane? Well if you built it out of it you'd be able to have it stand permanently just like the china wall.

Because it's too strong to work with. Carbon is already mixed with iron to produce steel and cast iron. That's what we are using.
Also a greater "strongness" can be achieved with how you use the material. A metal sheet is less strong than a fence of metal pipes.

You could also use it for guns and cars, especially cars since if your car is made out of carbon you can crash it into a wall and the car would survive unscathed.

The car would survive, yay, but people inside will die. There's a reason cars are made out of soft material to eat up the collision force while it gets smashed.

[Deleted]

Because it's too strong to work with. Carbon is already mixed with iron to produce steel and cast iron. That's what we are using.
Also a greater "strongness" can be achieved with how you use the material. A metal sheet is less strong than a fence of metal pipes.


The car would survive, yay, but people inside will die. There's a reason cars are made out of soft material to eat up the collision force while it gets smashed.

Why do we not use lead then? Radioactiveness aside.

[zebreck]

You could also use it for guns and cars, especially cars since if your car is made out of carbon you can crash it into a wall and the car would survive unscathed.

I'm not sure if you're trolling or not, but on the off chance you're being sincere about your question:

1) carbon is not a metal.
2) carbon alone is not "strong" in the technical definition of that word. Most of the allotropes (different forms) of carbon have very little resistance to sheer forces, for example, which is why graphite works so well in your pencil. Just having a mass of carbon isn't going to get you very far. Plus carbon is highly, highly flammable.
3) the allotropes of carbon that have high structural integrity are, generally, fucking tiny. Carbon nanotubes are still at the mm stage for maximum length. You can't build a car sized thing of those. You also don't want to build anything out of diamond, shit shatters under sharp impact and it's flammable.
4)you don't want your car to survive unscathed in the event of a high speed accident. Those impact forces have to go somewhere, and if they go into smashing up strategic portions of your car they then don't go into smashing up your skull. Crumple zones exist for this reason and have dramatically reduced accident fatalities. It's not a conspiracy to sell you shitty cars.
5)A gun made of carbon would just explode.

So yeah, it's a terrible idea. I am legitimately intrigued, assuming you're not trolling, where you got it?

[Deleted]

I'm not sure if you're trolling or not, but on the off chance you're being sincere about your question:

1) carbon is not a metal.
2) carbon alone is not "strong" in the technical definition of that word. Most of the allotropes (different forms) of carbon have very little resistance to sheer forces, for example, which is why graphite works so well in your pencil. Just having a mass of carbon isn't going to get you very far. Plus carbon is highly, highly flammable.
3) the allotropes of carbon that have high structural integrity are, generally, fucking tiny. Carbon nanotubes are still at the mm stage for maximum length. You can't build a car sized thing of those. You also don't want to build anything out of diamond, shit shatters under sharp impact and it's flammable.
4)you don't want your car to survive unscathed in the event of a high speed accident. Those impact forces have to go somewhere, and if they go into smashing up strategic portions of your car they then don't go into smashing up your skull. Crumple zones exist for this reason and have dramatically reduced accident fatalities. It's not a conspiracy to sell you shitty cars.
5)A gun made of carbon would just explode.

So yeah, it's a terrible idea. I am legitimately intrigued, assuming you're not trolling, where you got it?

I got it from an thread on /k/, it was something about using above mentioned for gun barrels and strikers.

[Elim Garak]

Why do we not use lead then? Radioactiveness aside.

Too heavy...

[Tackhisis]

It's a way too expensive.

[zebreck]

I got it from an thread on /k/, it was something about using above mentioned for gun barrels and strikers.

It's possible they were talking about carbon composites of some type, which can be very strong and light. They were definitely not talking about pure carbon though. In the specific structural cases you mentioned, however, concrete and metal are just overall a better choice. Particularly with fire arms which, as you can tell by the name, need to be made of things that don't catch on fire.

[Ol Scratch]

Uh, we DO use carbon in guns and especially in vehicles, moreso today than ever before. What the fuck are you people smoking?

[Elim Garak]

Uh, we DO use carbon in guns and especially in vehicles, moreso today than ever before. What the fuck are you people smoking?

He's talking about using just carbon, you know, like a gun/car made of diamond. That's strong shit.

[Zethras]

Why do we not use lead then? Radioactiveness aside.

Lead, aside form being toxic, and extremely heavy, it also has a very low melting point, which the cars engine would weaken even further, literally melting the car from within.

Also, lead is not radioactive.

[Independent voter]

He's talking about using just carbon, you know, like a gun/car made of diamond. That's strong shit.

Wouldn't a gun made of diamond fracture during the explosion? When they cut diamonds they don't use a lot of force, it's hard but not durable like steel is.

[Deleted]

Lead, aside form being toxic, and extremely heavy, it also has a very low melting point, which the cars engine would weaken even further, literally melting the car from within.

Also, lead is not radioactive.

Isn't lead or something used in nuclear reactors? Something heavy and dense.

[Ol Scratch]

He's talking about using just carbon, you know, like a gun/car made of diamond. That's strong shit.

1.) Practically nothing on Earth (manmade OR natural) is made of "just" one thing, let alone just one element. Even fucking diamonds aren't "just" carbon.
2.) Again, we already make both of those things out of carbon.

Car Example:


Gun Example:

[Elim Garak]

Wouldn't a gun made of diamond fracture during the explosion? When they cut diamonds they don't use a lot of force, it's hard but not durable like steel is.

Yeah. As rule of thumb the harder the material the more brittle it is. Diamonds are extremely brittle and an internal explosion will certainly rip it apart into very sharp pieces killing everyone in a radius including the shooter. I guess.

- - - Updated - - -

1.) Practically nothing on Earth (manmade OR natural) is made of "just" one thing, let alone just one element. Even fucking diamonds aren't "just" carbon.

Fucking diamonds are just carbon. And there are plenty of things made of one element. Like aluminium, copper, gold, silver, platinum, etc

[Zethras]

Isn't lead or something used in nuclear reactors? Something heavy and dense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead#Applications

Educate yourself if you like, it's far too early in the morning for me to be teaching basic chemistry to trolls on the internet.

- - - Updated - - -

1.) Practically nothing on Earth (manmade OR natural) is made of "just" one thing, let alone just one element. Even fucking diamonds aren't "just" carbon.
2.) Again, we already make both of those things out of carbon.

Car Example:


Gun Example:

White diamonds are literally super dense, diamond latticed carbon atoms.

Granted, coloured diamonds have minuscule impurities, thus the colour, but the vast majority of diamonds are white.

[Ol Scratch]

Fucking diamonds are just carbon. And there are plenty of things made of one element. Like aluminium, copper, gold, silver, platinum, etc

BZZT. Wrong on every single fucking account. The only diamonds even remotely *close* to being "just carbon" where made in a lab under extraneously difficult circumstances. Anything you're sporting on your shitty jewelry is a far, far, far cry from "just carbon." Ditto for everything else you blathered on about above.

The dipshit level of this thread has definitely reached 11.

And -- wait for it... wait for it -- WE ALREADY MAKE GUNS AND CARS OUT OF CARBON.

I mean, Jesus fucking Christ.

[Deleted]

We make things of different materials because we require different characteristics from those things. Guns already have carbon, as do many buildings and vehicles.

"Strength", "toughness", and "hardness" have different meanings in materials science. Carbon, as in diamonds, is only hard. Hard materials are also often brittle so we mix them with other stuff (like iron/carbon to make steel), or we subject them to special treatments (like tempering).
There are other characteristics that may or may not be desirable during manufacture (like malleability), or operation (like lightness).

[vindicatorx]

Isn't lead or something used in nuclear reactors? Something heavy and dense.

yes, it's density blocks radiation. Hence why they use lead aprons and leaded glass in x ray booths to prevent x ray technicians from over exposure to radiation. it's also very soft which is why they use it to make bullets, on impact it mushrooms.