On 2020-06-11 7:21 PM, Alain Fournier wrote:

That 1500 km line is *very* heavy. You want to use the best strength to
weight ratio, you don't want to add the constraint that the material is
also a good electrical conductor.


Alain Fournier

Ahh but for the near-miraculous carbon nanotube in the 'armchair'
configuration (acting as a metallic nanotube) it is! From Wikipedia:

"In theory, metallic nanotubes can carry an electric current density of
4 × 10**9 A/cm2, which is more than 1,000 times greater than those of
metals such as copper..."

Dave


Ref cites:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon...e#cite_note-55

https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.68.631

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4e58...2-aabcc9eaad35

https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnnano.2007.89