April 28, 2012
The emerging field of “nanotechnology” seems like an elusive concept to an ordinary person. This is not good considering the impact of the majority of products that are made today in Society. These manufactured "nano-" products will be incorporated into products that have had an immediate impact and will have an impact on our immediate future. The aim of this page will be to disseminate knowledge about the field of nanotechnology that is growing in time at an exponential rate.
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To begin understanding this field, it is best to start with a working definition of nanotechnology. Following this definition will be an overarching view of the various emerging applications that have come out of this rapidly expanding field.
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The term nanotechnology can be broken down into bits to be more digestible as a field. “Nano-“ is a prefix that describes the order of magnitude of the scale.
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To begin with, the short answer to the first question is that our basic understanding of matter revolves around the acceptance of the concept of matter.
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If you try to break down matter to the simplest/understandable components—you will be left with the concept of an atom??? Atoms that are in distance with each other have the possibility to “stick” together and form bonds, which over the process form the group that will be referred to as a “molecule.” In the cartoon description, two atoms are depicted as “atom A” and atom “B”, which come together in close proximity to one another and form a “bond” which is represented as a molecule “C.”
Atom “A”--¤ + Atom “B”--¤ è Molecule “C” ¤¤
In the above picture, there is an atom “A” and an atom “B” that are depicted by the symbols “¤”. When two atoms come together, there exists the possibility that the two will form a bond and be joined to one another. The actual outcome to the joining of the two atoms to form a molecule “C” depends on a number of factors that are out of the scope of this discussion at present. A cell is made up of a large number of atoms—to many than is possible to predict.
NOTE: When you have an answer as to how many atoms, please feel free to e-mail us and inform us. Please include your reasoning on the matter at hand.
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Similar to the concept of a cell, which is made up of various molecules and is considered the basic unit of the body, the concept of a molecule is becoming increasingly important. Let us remind ourselves what the cell looks like. Below is a graphical depiction of a cell from the referenced website:
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Looks rather complex, but remember that this cell is made up of a few different types of atoms. This introduces the concept that different materials are made up of different arrangements of atoms. Are you following this logic? Well, this is a primer of the introduction of nanotechnology.
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****Links will be provided below that allow a better understanding of the concepts introduced above.
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The idea of a molecule is important in nanotechnology because of the interactions between molecules is precisely what makes nanotechnology important. Our understanding of these interactions through various studies that have resulted in both the creation of new technologies and our basic understanding of science have defined this emerging field today that we now know as “nanotechnology.”
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Nanotechnology implies that one is inspecting a substance or an object at a distance of 1X10^-9 meters. This means that our idea of matter on the scale that we live by is slightly skewed. What do I mean by this statement?
Traditionally, life is described in the following manner….take for instance, throwing a baseball to another person in sight. The person throwing the object has the perception that the object is traversing space—or a distance by the amount of force or power that has been exerted on the object initially.......
On the other side, the receiving person has the perception of the ball leaving the “throwers” hand which will help to ensure that they receive the ball. A strange aspect of Physics is that there exists a set of laws that defy this logic!! How exactly is this accomplished?
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Imagine the same depiction of a person throwing a baseball from one person to the next. In the Quantum Physical world, one of the two people involved in the process would not know anything about the ball. They would only know that they received the ball, not its “Classical” trajectory.
NOTE: by “Classical Mechanics,” the implication is to describe objects in motion that are very well described using Prof. Isaac Newton’s Law’s of motion. When we discuss matters revolving around the phenomenon of “Quantum Mechanics,” we are simply implying a description of the process using laws that are not appropriate for Newton’s description. This is where the idea/description of Nanotechnology lies. It is quite simple to give you numbers to describe the situation in the form of equations. Anyone can do this….I would rather relate the real world situation to you, in hopes that you will start an adventure to understanding the phenomenon further.
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Question: At this point in time, I would ask myself, “Alright, Mike, if this is so important, then why don’t various Countries require a basic knowledge of the subject as a standard for the culture?”
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The answer: Currently, the desire to have a culture skilled in this domain is not totally desirable. Conflicts arise between schools of thought with regard to the standard of education. This is not to say that the subject is not important.
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### I will elaborate on the subject more in time. Stay tuned!!!