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We've probably always had carbon nanotubes in the air. You get formation of them just from burning carbon sources.
I know but these fibers don't look burned, they look more or less intact, minus the fact that they are detached from the surface. Problem is that they are found close to airport, or to be more precise on the approach routes and over the corridors for commercial aviation. If the composite materials are "shedding" like this it is a great security risk for airplanes. My guess, again is that at the high altitude, the combination of various temperature and pressures stresses doesn't play well when combined with UV radiation. Again this is just a guess.
Fullerenes and carbon nanotubes are not necessarily products of high-tech laboratories; they are commonly formed in such mundane places as ordinary flames,[113] produced by burning methane,[114] ethylene,[115] and benzene,[116] and they have been found in soot from both indoor and outdoor air.[117] However, these naturally occurring varieties can be highly irregular in size and quality because the environment in which they are produced is often highly uncontrolled. Thus, although they can be used in some applications, they can lack in the high degree of uniformity necessary to satisfy the many needs of both research and industry.
If carbon nanotubes are found near airports it is likely because of the amount of fuel being burned in the vicinity by both the turbines on the aircraft themselves, and the high volume of cars and trucks involved in airport operations.
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