Applications In the Oil Field.-2
1) Safety is critical in oilfield work, as elsewhere. Accidents cost misery, time off work, and of course, money. Some situations have hazardous gases which have killed many oilfield workers. Now, with Buckytubes/Buckyballs, there is an opportunity for a solution. A silicon wafer, with a single embedded buckytube, can turn that wafer into a gas sensor.
2) Because buckytubes fluoresce, and different sized buckytubes absorb and give off different light ranges, they could have applications in the oilfield. A grouping of different sized diameters could be injected into an oil well. When they were “circulated” back out, the color changes could give geologists and engineers critical information about the conditions downhole, as well as what is actually there.
3) As well, this property of fluorescence could be used extensively in oil explorations. Mixtures of buckytubes could be injected in all sorts of locations (many which people would want to go to, or be easily able to go to), and the changes in light emitted could be read by satellites.