File:Nanotube strip +02 000.pdf

English: Diagram of a hypothetical carbon nanotube conceptually cut lengthwise and unrolled on the plane, overaid on the hexagonal graphene lattice. The point A1 represents an atom A of the nanotube that was right on the cut (the dashed line through A1). The transversal blue arrow corresponds to a circumference of the nanotube, and shows the gap A2 on the opposite edge of the strip where the atom A was before the cut. The parameter d is the approximate diameter of the rolled-up nanotube, and \alpha is the angle from u to w (the "chiral angle"). The vector w = A2-A1 is n*u + m*v where (n.m) = (2,0). This nanotube would be a "zigzag" type and mirror-symmetric, with twofold (180 degree) rotational symmetry about the tube axis. However, the strip is too narrow to correspond to a real tube. The hypothetical result of rolling up this strip would be a chain of fused 4-cyles with unsaturated bonds; which may not be stable, and anyway would not have a hollow space inside.