Carbon nanotubes, submicroscopic particles at the cutting edge of technology for 20 years, are still far from being an old novelty. Every day, universities and research centers around the world are discovering new methods for producing and using carbon nanotubes. From some of the most popular uses, such as strengthening body armor to creating synthetic muscles, carbon nanotubes are in many ways a kind of versatile amplifier that is very likely to become increasingly more common in the near future. Carbon nanotubes are relatively new materials that have very interesting and useful properties and virtually unlimited applications. Carbon nanotubes are hollow cylinders made of one or more layers of graphene with open or closed ends. The most sought-after carbon nanotubes are built strictly from hexagonal lattice structures, except for their ends which require pentagons (Volder, 535). These molecules were first discovered in 1991 by Sumio Iijima, a Japanese physicist. At the time, they were called "helical graphitic carbon microtubules" and, fortunately, have since undergone a name change. Today, they are simply called carbon nanotubes or “buckytubes,” after architect Buckminster Fuller who created futuristic domes in the 1930s that resembled the structure of the carbons in these tubes. However, the name was the least of the changes to come. Later, scientists would discover that there were many other forms of carbon nanotubes. The first to be discovered were multi-walled “MWNTs,” meaning they were surrounded by more than one layer of graphene. It was not until 1993 that the single-walled carbon nanotube, abbreviated “SWNT”, was discovered (Tománek). ...... middle of paper ...... cations. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. April 25, 2014. Ryan, Clare. “Chemistry solves toxicity concerns regarding carbon nanotubes.” UCL. 15 January 2013. University College London. April 25, 2014. Shipman, Matt and Yuntian Zhu. “New techniques stretch carbon nanotubes and create stronger composites.” North Carolina State News. October 15, 2012. North Carolina State University. April 25, 2014. Tománek, David. The nanotube site. April 2013. Michigan State University. April 25, 2014. Volder, MFL De, SH Tawfick, RH Baughman, and AJ Hart. “Carbon nanotubes: present and future commercial applications.” Science 339 (2013): 535-39