Graphene and its propertiesCarbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe and the fifteenth on Earth. It is the sixth element in the periodic table with four valence electrons used to bond to other atoms. Atoms tend to fill their outer shell with eight valence electrons to remain stable. This leads atoms to share or exchange electrons to satisfy this requirement. This property demonstrates the versatile nature of carbon and explains the many forms in which it occurs and why carbon is essential for all living organisms. Carbon is a building block of many molecules and lends itself to creating complex chemical structures. There are currently more than ten million known carbon molecules. An entire branch of chemistry known as organic chemistry is dedicated solely to the study of carbon molecules and their properties. Carbon has many allotropes, which are different structural forms of the same element, due to its valency. Common allotropes of carbon like graphite and diamond vary greatly in physical appearance and properties due to differences in their structure. Graphene itself is a single layer of graphite with carbon arranged in a honeycomb structure. The first time graphene was isolated and produced in the laboratory was in 2004 by researchers Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. Other studies have shown that graphene's two-dimensional structure lends itself to incredible properties such as its effective electrical and thermal conductivity as well as its strength. This scientific breakthrough has since advanced graphene research and greatly aroused public interest in the material's practical applications. .HISTORICAL CONTEXT......middle of paper......beyond the linear regime. (Lee et al. 385) At the time of testing, graphene was the strongest material known to man, before the discovery of carbyne – a one-dimensional carbon material. A single sheet of graphene was strong enough to support the weight of an adult elephant. However, for graphene to be visible to the human eye, it would take three million sheets stacked on top of each other to obtain one centimeter of thickness. THERMAL PROPERTIES ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES APPLICATIONS OF GRAPHENE Batteries, supercapacitors, light vehicles, electric cars, flexible transparent electronics, faster computers, water desalination, biological applicationsTratWorks citedLee, C., X. Wei., JW Kysar., J. Hone . Measurement of elastic properties and intrinsic resistance of single-layer graphene. Science, Vol. 321 no. 5887, p. 385-388. 2008. Print.