How many atoms per meter are there in a carbon nano tube?

[nalA]

I'm interested in the theoretical minimum number, so like the extruded buckyball ball?

I'm trying to work out if there are enough carbon atoms in a 'piece of paper' to reach the moon. :)

Which brings me to the next question : how many carbon atoms are there in a piece of paper? Or perhaps a better way of putting it would be, how big a piece of paper would you need - would a sheet of A4 paper get you there?

This all comes from me coming across that idea that if it was possible, you'd only have to fold a piece of paper 44 times to reach the moon! ie by doubling the thickness 44 times, you'd exceed the distance from the Earth to the moon.

 

[Borek]

This is just a geometrical problem. Nano tube is a repeating pattern, find the "building block" - number of atoms, length - and then it is trivial.

Note that carbon nano tubes can have different radii, so the number of atoms depend on the properties of the particular tube.

 

[256bits]

That would be
Distance = thickness pf paper x 2^44
So that is easy to calculate.

Size of paper:
You can calculate the size of paper needed by knowing: ( best to start off with a square piece of papaer )
A carbon aom has a diameter of 0.22 nm ( 2,2 x 10^-10 m )

And that on each second fold, or folds of even powers of 2, result in another square ( odd folds have a rectangular shape )

So is A4 paper large enough or are you trying to fold an atom?