Monomolecular wire
Encyclopedia
Monomolecular wire is a fictional wire, often used as a weapon, consisting of single strand of strongly-bonded molecules, like carbon nanotube
s. It has applications in cutting objects and severing adjacent molecules. A similar or identical concept may be called a microfilament wire or, as a weapon, a microfilament whip.
's Dune novels. First making its appearance in Dune
(1965), shigawire is a metallic extrusion produced naturally from a ground vine found on the planets Salusa Secundus
and III Delta Kaising. It varies in diameter from approximately 1.5 cm down to monomolecular (micronic) diameters, and is notable for its incredible tensile and mechanical strength.
Shigawire is able to cut through almost any material cleanly, possessing edges that are incredibly sharp. It is a weapon of choice for assassins, able to both garrote and decapitate in one swift motion. It finds widespread use in the Dune universe, not only as a weapon system, but as an information recording material: shigawire is able to accept magnetic fields imprinted along its length in the style of magnetic tape, giving rise to the wire projector, which displays holographic images and films whose data is imprinted on a shigawire reel. Minimic film is monomolecular shigawire which has been used to record data - great care is needed while handling this material, as carelessness will result in the film cutting through its canister, playback/recorder machine, and the hapless user if the film is moving at a velocity greater than 1 metre per second.
Shigawire also has application in art, including that of mobile sculpture. A notable piece of the latter, called 'Being Unknown', was taken by Honored Matres during their invasion of the Old Empire, and retained at the captured palace of the Spider Queen on one of the Spacing Guild Junction Planets. The sculpture was a kinetic design of humanoid appearance, consisting of multiple flat panels suspended in a tensegrity structure, with fine shigawire holding the assembly together. The Spider Queen commented on how the wind's interaction with the sculpture produced multiple appearances within the work, where sometimes it would appear to be running as gracefully as a marathoner, and sometimes ugly twitching motions as though it were carrying weapons within its hands.
Among the first references in fiction to a monofilament is in John Brunner
's Stand on Zanzibar
(1968), where hobby terrorists deploy this over-the-shelf General Technics product across roads to kill or injure the people passing there. According to Brunner, the monofilament will easily cut through glass, metal and flesh, but in any non-strained structure the molecules will immediately rebond. No harm is done if the cut object is not under mechanical stress.
Monomolecular Wire is a plot element in the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson
. The assassin following the protagonist has a diamond spindle of monomolecular wire (or filament) implanted in his thumb, the idea being that diamond is also made of a single molecule and thus hard enough to not be cut by a monomolecular wire. The top of the thumb, attached to the other side of the wire, was used as a weight and the wire could be used as a whip-like weapon or a garotte. This idea was used in the film Johnny Mnemonic
, which was based on the short story. One of the characters in another Gibson book, Count Zero
, also uses a monomolecular filament to cross from one building to another.
Monomolecular wire is used as the basic building material of the space elevator in Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Fountains of Paradise
.
In later series of Battle Angel Alita - Last Order
, the monomolecular wire was identified to be capable of penetrating electro-magnetic shield, but was stopped by a stick made up of monomolecular material. Monomolecular wires are seen in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
, Cyber City Oedo 808
, Hyperion Cantos
, Robert J. Sawyer's
Illegal Alien
, the manga Battle Angel Alita
, Naruto
, Hellsing
, My-Hime
, Simon R. Green's Deathstalker
series, as well as the roleplaying games Shadowrun
, and Cyberpunk 2020
. Monomolecular wires are also seen in Larry Niven
's "Known Space
" universe as human-produced "Sinclair Molecule Chain".
Various Imperial and alien technologies in the Warhammer 40,000
universe use monomolecular blades or wire offensively. Possibly the most notable example are Eldar
Warp Spiders, whose Deathspinner weaponry traps targets in a mesh of such filaments or the Dark Eldar Shredder weapon which shoots meshes of it.
The game Chaos Overlords
featured a weapon 'monom rod' which used this technology.
In the webcomic
Schlock Mercenary
by Howard Tayler
a so-called "Dorothy System" is integrated into Captain Kaff Tagon's boots. He clicks his heels together and the wire comes out, between the boots' heels.
Sion Eltnam Atlasia wields a monofilament whip called the Etherlite in Melty Blood
In the 2000 film XChange, the main character acquires an Urban survival Kit which includes a monomolecular wire.
Monomolecular swords are used by some Kzin
in Larry Niven
's Known Space
series. They are made of monomolecular wire held rigid by a stasis field and they have small bright balls on the end so the user can see where the sword is.
Carbon nanotube
Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
s. It has applications in cutting objects and severing adjacent molecules. A similar or identical concept may be called a microfilament wire or, as a weapon, a microfilament whip.
Scientific basis
The science behind this fictional weapon is fairly simple working from the principle that the thinner the cutting edge the more keen the weapon, but there is no substance that is currently known that will provide such a strong bonding for the creation of monomolecular materials. Furthermore most representations of monomolecular wire fall short in several places and many uses of them are even more fictitious. Some characters are frequently shown as being able to use this wire as garottes but without inflicting any harm on their own hands. Many characters can also throw and control these wires almost telekinetically (how is almost never explained). Wire such as this would in reality not have enough weight to fly properly or place much force behind it, unless it had some type of weight on its tip to maintain the wire's rigidity while in motion. Sometimes, they also seem to only cut when the user wants them to, being able to both bind a person without harming him or her and slice hordes of armored enemies with ease.Monocrystalline Metals
While a monocrystalline wire is at present a theoretical construct, there are applications for monocrystalline cast metal ingots. These are produced by slowly dropping carbon steel into a steeping bath of very cold water. The resulting steel bars are extremely strong, and chemically uniform monocrystalline, with a regular crystal structure. These have applications in aerospace, typically as the base material for gas turbine hot section blades (in jet engines and power station turbines), and as throat liner for the reaction chambers of liquid fuel rocket engines.Use and variants in fiction
The prototype of Monomolecular wire is shigawire , as described in Frank HerbertFrank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
's Dune novels. First making its appearance in Dune
Dune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
(1965), shigawire is a metallic extrusion produced naturally from a ground vine found on the planets Salusa Secundus
Salusa Secundus
Salusa Secundus is a fictional planet appearing in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. With harsh conditions rivaling those of the desert planet Arrakis, Salusa is used as the Imperial Prison Planet, and is one of two planets on which shigawire is grown .-Dune:In "Terminology of the Imperium," the...
and III Delta Kaising. It varies in diameter from approximately 1.5 cm down to monomolecular (micronic) diameters, and is notable for its incredible tensile and mechanical strength.
Shigawire is able to cut through almost any material cleanly, possessing edges that are incredibly sharp. It is a weapon of choice for assassins, able to both garrote and decapitate in one swift motion. It finds widespread use in the Dune universe, not only as a weapon system, but as an information recording material: shigawire is able to accept magnetic fields imprinted along its length in the style of magnetic tape, giving rise to the wire projector, which displays holographic images and films whose data is imprinted on a shigawire reel. Minimic film is monomolecular shigawire which has been used to record data - great care is needed while handling this material, as carelessness will result in the film cutting through its canister, playback/recorder machine, and the hapless user if the film is moving at a velocity greater than 1 metre per second.
Shigawire also has application in art, including that of mobile sculpture. A notable piece of the latter, called 'Being Unknown', was taken by Honored Matres during their invasion of the Old Empire, and retained at the captured palace of the Spider Queen on one of the Spacing Guild Junction Planets. The sculpture was a kinetic design of humanoid appearance, consisting of multiple flat panels suspended in a tensegrity structure, with fine shigawire holding the assembly together. The Spider Queen commented on how the wind's interaction with the sculpture produced multiple appearances within the work, where sometimes it would appear to be running as gracefully as a marathoner, and sometimes ugly twitching motions as though it were carrying weapons within its hands.
Among the first references in fiction to a monofilament is in John Brunner
John Brunner (novelist)
John Kilian Houston Brunner was a prolific British author of science fiction novels and stories. His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar, about an overpopulated world, won the 1968 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel. It also won the BSFA award the same year...
's Stand on Zanzibar
Stand on Zanzibar
Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopian New Wave science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1968. The book won a Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention in 1969, as well as the 1969 BSFA Award and the 1973 Prix Tour-Apollo Award.-Description:A...
(1968), where hobby terrorists deploy this over-the-shelf General Technics product across roads to kill or injure the people passing there. According to Brunner, the monofilament will easily cut through glass, metal and flesh, but in any non-strained structure the molecules will immediately rebond. No harm is done if the cut object is not under mechanical stress.
Monomolecular Wire is a plot element in the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
. The assassin following the protagonist has a diamond spindle of monomolecular wire (or filament) implanted in his thumb, the idea being that diamond is also made of a single molecule and thus hard enough to not be cut by a monomolecular wire. The top of the thumb, attached to the other side of the wire, was used as a weight and the wire could be used as a whip-like weapon or a garotte. This idea was used in the film Johnny Mnemonic
Johnny Mnemonic (film)
Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 cyberpunk film, loosely based on the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson. The title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information, is played by Keanu Reeves. The film portrays Gibson's dystopian view of the future with the world...
, which was based on the short story. One of the characters in another Gibson book, Count Zero
Count Zero
Count Zero is a science fiction novel written by William Gibson, originally published 1986. It is the second volume of the Sprawl trilogy, which begins with Neuromancer and concludes with Mona Lisa Overdrive, and is a canonical example of the cyberpunk sub-genre.Count Zero was serialized by Isaac...
, also uses a monomolecular filament to cross from one building to another.
Monomolecular wire is used as the basic building material of the space elevator in Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Fountains of Paradise
The Fountains of Paradise
The Fountains of Paradise is a Hugo and Nebula Award–winning 1979 novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, it describes the construction of a space elevator. This "orbital tower" is a giant structure rising from the ground and linking with a satellite in geostationary orbit at the...
.
In later series of Battle Angel Alita - Last Order
Battle Angel Alita
Battle Angel Alita, known in Japan as , is a manga series created by Yukito Kishiro in 1990 and originally published in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine. Two of the nine-volume comics were adapted into two anime original video animation episodes titled Battle Angel for North American release by...
, the monomolecular wire was identified to be capable of penetrating electro-magnetic shield, but was stopped by a stick made up of monomolecular material. Monomolecular wires are seen in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Star Wars Expanded Universe
The Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...
, Cyber City Oedo 808
Cyber City Oedo 808
is a seminal Cyberpunk anime set in the year 2808 in the megalopolis of Oedo . It was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri.- Plot :To combat computerised crime more effectively, the Cyber Police unit of the future Japanese city of Oedo has restarted the feudal practice of hōmen , employing hardened...
, Hyperion Cantos
Hyperion Cantos
The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. Set in the far future, and focusing more on plot and story development than technical detail, it falls into the soft science fiction category...
, Robert J. Sawyer's
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...
Illegal Alien
Illegal Alien (novel)
Illegal Alien is a science fiction and mystery novel by Canadian novelist Robert J. Sawyer. The book won the 2002 Seiun Award, in Japan, for Best Foreign Novel....
, the manga Battle Angel Alita
Battle Angel Alita
Battle Angel Alita, known in Japan as , is a manga series created by Yukito Kishiro in 1990 and originally published in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine. Two of the nine-volume comics were adapted into two anime original video animation episodes titled Battle Angel for North American release by...
, Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
, Hellsing
Hellsing
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha. As of March 2009 all chapters have been released in 10 volumes in...
, My-Hime
My-HiME
is an anime series, created by Sunrise. Directed by Masakazu Obara and written by Hiroyuki Yoshino, the series originally premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo from September 2004 to March 2005...
, Simon R. Green's Deathstalker
Deathstalker
The deathstalker , is a species of scorpion, a member of the Buthidae family. It is also known as Palestine yellow scorpion, Omdurman scorpion, Israeli desert scorpion and numerous other colloquial names, which generally originate from the commercial captive trade of the animal...
series, as well as the roleplaying games Shadowrun
Shadowrun
Shadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...
, and Cyberpunk 2020
Cyberpunk 2020
Cyberpunk 2020 is a cyberpunk role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith and published by R. Talsorian Games.- Overview :This role-playing game is based on the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and other authors of the "Mirrorshades group"...
. Monomolecular wires are also seen in Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's "Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
" universe as human-produced "Sinclair Molecule Chain".
Various Imperial and alien technologies in the Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
universe use monomolecular blades or wire offensively. Possibly the most notable example are Eldar
Eldar (Warhammer 40,000)
In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids who look into the future via psychic powers. They are one of the most ancient and advanced races in the universe's history, though younger than the Necrons, the C'tan, and the Old Ones...
Warp Spiders, whose Deathspinner weaponry traps targets in a mesh of such filaments or the Dark Eldar Shredder weapon which shoots meshes of it.
The game Chaos Overlords
Chaos Overlords
-External links:*...
featured a weapon 'monom rod' which used this technology.
In the webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting...
by Howard Tayler
Howard Tayler
Howard V. Tayler is the award-winning creator of the hugely successful webcomic Schlock Mercenary. He worked as a volunteer missionary for the LDS Church, then graduated from Brigham Young University...
a so-called "Dorothy System" is integrated into Captain Kaff Tagon's boots. He clicks his heels together and the wire comes out, between the boots' heels.
Sion Eltnam Atlasia wields a monofilament whip called the Etherlite in Melty Blood
Melty Blood
, is a visual novel and fighting game, co-developed by dōjin circles Type-Moon and French-Bread, originally released at Comiket on December 2002...
In the 2000 film XChange, the main character acquires an Urban survival Kit which includes a monomolecular wire.
Monomolecular swords are used by some Kzin
Kzin
The Kzinti are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat-like aliens in Larry Niven's Known Space series....
in Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
series. They are made of monomolecular wire held rigid by a stasis field and they have small bright balls on the end so the user can see where the sword is.