▲ Properties of Carbon Nanobubes<One end of a SWNT>― Equilibrium StructureSimply put, carbon nanotubes exist as a macro-molecule of carbon, analagous to a sheet of graphite (the pure, brittle form of cabon in your pencil lead) rolled into a cylinder. Graphite looks like a sheet of chicken wire, a tessellation of hexagonal rings of carbon. Sheets of graphite in our pencil lay stacked on top on one another, but they slide past each other and can be separated easily, which is how it is used for writing. However, when coiled, the carbon arrangement becomes very strong. In fact, nanotubes have been known to be up to one hundred times as strong as steel and almost two millimeters long. These nanotubes have a hemispherical "cap" at each end of the cylinder. They are light, flexible, thermally stabile, and are chemically inert. They have the ability to be either metallic or semi-conducting depending on the "twist" of the tube.