Interesting Facts and Nanotechnology

Posted by AB , Labels: , , , Sunday, March 6, 2011 3:51 AM

Nanotechnology is a technology, which allows to work with substances on the levels of individual atoms. During traditional methods of production, scientists work with portions of tissue, which consist of billions of atoms. Even now, with such powerful technological base, it is almost impossible to view the smallest parts of an atom.

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In 1959, Nobel Laureate, Richard Feynman predicted that if the humanity will learn how to manipulate separate atoms, it will be possible to synthesize almost anything. And he was absolutely right, in 1981 the first tool for atom manipulation was introduced – the tunneling microscope, which was invented by scientists from IBM.

It turned out that by using this microscope scientists could not only see individual atoms, but also to lift and move them around. This demonstrated the ability to manipulate atoms and brought an idea to build new subsctances by moving them around and stacking in something new, it was like building a house with a set of bricks.

Traditionally, nanotechnology is divided into three major areas:
  • manufacturing of electronic circuits and schemes, the elements of which consist of several atoms
  • creation of nano-machines and nano-robots, for examples mechanisms and robots the size of a molecule
  • direct manipulation of atoms and molecules in order to assembly of them something new.