Jul 6, 2014; London, United Kingdom; Novak Djokovic (SRB) in action during his match against Roger Federer (SUI) on day 13 of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
World No. 1 and Wimbledon defending champion Novak Djokovic breezed past the first round of Wimbledon today with a straight-sets win against German Philipp Kohlschreiber. Strangely enough, this victory is thanks, in part, to a physics professor at the University of Manchester and Scotch tape.
Why? Novak Djokovic’s racket, given to him by his sponsor Head, is reinforced with a new material called graphene, according the The Australian Financial Review.
Professor Andre Geim is credited with the discovery, when one night he had a Ph.D. student attempt to isolate thin layers of carbon, using sticky tape to peel away layers of graphite. What he found was a one-atom inch thick layer of the new super material, which scientists had speculated about for years. So, he enlisted the help of Ph.D. student Konstantin Novoselov, and studied the properties of this graphene. The pair went on to win the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discoveries.
His findings showed it to be the thinnest material in the known universe, but also 150 times stronger than steel and 1000 times more conducive that copper. Companies like Samsung are even using it to double battery life in their phones.
But, it has tremendous potential in the sports world. Companies other than Head, which uses the material in both its tennis rackets and skis, have begun to jump on the graphene bandwagon as well.
For instance, Catlike, a Spanish company that specializes in cycling helmets, has begun to use the material in their helmets to make them more lightweight and durable.
The only downside to graphene is that even now there is no cost and energy efficient way of separating graphene from graphite. Scientists are currently working on ways to extract high quality graphene on a much larger scale than can be done today. When they can do this, graphene’s potential in the sports world will surely become more fully realized.
