Modern Marvels: Worlds Sharpest

That's not quite how it works...."World's <superlative>" just means that's the category so they'll go over a bunch of different things within the category.

But regarding the sharpest possible material, my guess would be something involving carbon nanotubes aligned at the molecular level to a single "tube" or whatever.

As far as natural materials, I remember hearing something about old scalpels sometimes using obsidian points because their break pattern can go all the way down to a single molecule's width (meaning you could cut individual cells!) Unlike steel (crystal structure), glass has no structure so you can cleave an edge that literally angles perfectly until it's nothing.

A quick search finds AMA surgeons quoting obsidian as having an edge up to 500x sharper than surgical steel. Wow.
 
I taped it. I only caught the second half.

They had disposable razors, ceramic industrial slitters, and industrial shredders in the part I saw.

I will have to watch it all tonight.
 
From memory, the sharpest was quoted as a diamond blade, at (from memory) 60 nanometers edge width (I know it was nanometers, but am not certain on the 60).

For reference, nanotechnology in printed circuits has features down to the 15 nanometer size.

A 1 micron edge is often said to be extremely sharp here.
 
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