Chương 36: Book 2 - Chapter 8 B

After cleaning up and taking a shower I joined the family in the dining room where we all had dinner together every night.

"Well you look better than you have in a while, are you done?" Dad asked.

"Not done. The equipment I built works and I just finished my first sample. I've got five more to make, but each one will take me a full day."

"What is it?" Grandpa asked as he tugged on the material.

"It feels like very stiff felt." He passed it around the table to everyone. It got back to Matt.

"It looks like some sort of carbon fiber, but it's very soft."

"Very close to carbon fiber, but much better. This stuff is made from graphene, a form of carbon similar to graphite, but it's very, very pure. When baked like this it becomes flexible like cloth. Do you guys know what Kevlar is?" I asked.

"It's the stuff they make bullet proof vests from," Grandpa stated.

"That's right, it has five times the strength of steel for the same weight. This stuff is more than 500 times stronger than steel."

"So is it bulletproof?" asked Matt.

"More than bulletproof, it has other properties that are what make it special. For example, Dad, can you hand me your coffee?" He handed me his coffee, I pushed the cloth slightly inside an empty water cup, making a funnel. Everyone watched as I poured his coffee through the filter. It seemed to pour right through the felt cloth, but only clear liquid came through the filter. I handed the cup of clear liquid to Dad.

"What does that taste like?" I asked him. He stared at the liquid, then giving me a look promising trouble if it was a trick, tasted it.

"It's water!" I showed the table the remains of the coffee in the felt.

"Everything from your cup of coffee except the water remains behind," I explained.

"It's a water filter unlike anything ever created. This sheet could filter seawater into pure drinking water almost instantly. You could wrap it around a straw and safely drink straight out of the ocean, or a sewage pond." There were gasps of amazement and revulsion, but I continued.

"This material is a way not only provide clean water to everyone, but also act as a filter when you want to remove water.

"Grandpa, why does Makers Mark distill their whiskey?"

"To remove the water," he said, guessing the right answer.

"Want to try some 200 proof Makers Mark?" I asked him. He hopped up to go get his bottle. While he did that I washed off the coffee from the felt in the kitchen sink.

"I call this graphene felt. This version also passes gases through it, so it can filter air and water. Particles and any liquid that is not water will not go through the material. It's also washable as I just demonstrated," I said, just as Grandpa returned. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Makers Mark is 90 proof, which means that it's 45% alcohol. Most of the rest is water," I told my family as I prepared my next demonstration. I wrapped the felt tightly around the open mouth of the bottle with my hand, and poured it into an empty water cup. Water poured out of the bottle, and the volume visibly dropped by more than half in a few seconds. When it looked like nearly all the water had come out I stopped pouring and handed the water glass to Grandpa who sniffed it, then tasted it.

"Tastes like water," he declared. Then I handed him the bottle. He sniffed it, then took a taste straight from the bottle.

"Wow! That's strong!" he wheezed. He offered it to Dad who declined, then Matt who accepted and took a big swig. Hoarsely, but bravely Matt said, "Very strong." Mom and Grandma looked at one another, curiosity outweighing caution. Mom emptied the water from her cup with a long drink. Dad gave her a concerned look but she ignored it.

"Well, I suppose I should try it," Mom said, holding her cup out. Grandma followed suit, gently pushing her own empty cup forward.

"Just a taste, of course. I haven't had a good drink in years." Grandpa poured a small, shallow amount into each of their cups from the bottle. It was a clear, oily looking liquid. Mom lifted the cup, giving it a polite sniff, then took the tiniest sip. Her eyes immediately went wide, and she let out a small, "Oof!" before quickly clapping a hand over her mouth. Grandma, witnessing Mom's reaction, paused only briefly.

She took a marginally larger sip and immediately screwed up her entire face, shaking her head vigorously as she swallowed.

"My word, that's powerful!" she managed to wheeze out. Dad burst into loud, robust laughter, the kind that drew Matt's attention away from rubbing his throat. I joined in, followed quickly by Mattie.

"That looks like fun!" Mattie declared, hopping in her seat.

"My turn! I want to try some of it too!" Mom, still regaining her composure, pointed a stern finger at her.

"Absolutely not!" she insisted, her voice rasping slightly. Grandma, shaking her head and refilling her water glass took a long drink. She firmly offered a nod of agreement to Mom's decree.

"How bulletproof is this stuff?" Matt asked, fingering it carefully again.

"I'm guessing that this thickness is enough to stop a fifty caliber sniper round at fifty feet," I told him. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.

"But," I continued, "the bullet would still go right through you bringing the felt with it. It needs to be backed by something rigid that can take and spread the impact. Something like a flak jacket."

"It filters air too?" Dad asked. I held it tight to my face, over my nose and mouth and breathed cleanly in and out to demonstrate.

"It's permeable only to small molecule gases and water, nothing else."

"I bet you could use it to fix water in a gas tank," Mom said.

"Remember when that happened to us? They had to take the tank off to get the water out."

"Makes it a lot easier to make condensed soup, or even orange juice concentrate," Grandma said.

"There are hundreds of beautiful islands in the Aegean Sea that are empty because there is no water. This makes previously worthless but beautiful islands very valuable," Dad said.

"The Navy will want this on every boat. Water makers are a pain to service and take a lot of fuel to run," Matt said.

"This is worth billions," Grandpa said.

"Today is," I paused and everyone laughed as I had to stop and think about it.

"Today is the 3rd," I continued confidently, "Tomorrow is Friday. I need to talk to the University about patents. I'll call Dr Thompson tonight. He gave me his home number just for stuff like this.

"He's going to want to see this tonight, but I'm exhausted. I'll make him wait till tomorrow," I said.

"No," Mom said.

"Give me his number and I'll call him in the morning. You're going to eat your dinner, then you're going to bed. I'll call him in the morning before he goes anywhere, and tell him he can come at lunch time." I looked around but saw no support.

"Yes Mom," I told her, and ate my dinner. I really was looking forward to bed.