Single shell carbon nanotubes are members of the Fullerene family of carbon molecules. Typically, single shell carbon nanotubes measure about 0.7 — 3 nm in diameter and are usually several microns in length. Structurally, they can be thought of as narrow graphite sheets that have been bent around the long axis and joined at opposite edges to form long seamless hollow shells of carbon. Typically, a hemispheroidal cap that contains exactly six 5-rings terminates each end, as shown in Figure 1.

Graphite is known to have an in-plane elastic modulus of ∼1 TPa, one of the highest values known. Consequently, it is expected that single shell nanotubes should be very stiff — a fact that makes them potentially useful in fiber reinforced composites. However, because of their small size, it is impractical to measure their stiffness directly by conventional mechanical means. Recently, we demonstrated that thermal vibrations in freestanding multiwalled nanotubes could be used to estimate their stiffness [1].