The Realm of Nanotechnology

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In the movie G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, there was a scene there, where the Eiffel tower was hit by a blazing missile. After being hit, all trusses and braces of the majestic landmark began to disintegrate. How horrible! What weapon could have hit that? Fiction as it may be, the movie shows a new and promising technology to the world of science and technology. A technology that is now becoming popular to the scientific community because of its potential use in the area of medicine, military, electronics, foods ,business and even in robotics. Welcome to the world of atoms, the realm of nanoscience and nanostructure.

Nanotechnology (nanotech) was defined by Professor Norio Taniguchi of Tokyo Science University in 1974 as ‘Nano-technology’. It mainly consists of the processing of, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule. Other materials and discussions by Dr. K. Eric Drexler about nanoscale and the phenomenon which was summarized in his book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of NanoTechnology followed. With the invention of cluster science and Scanning Tunneling Machine (STM) in 1980’s, there were more and more discoveries and inventions related to nanotechnology. Some of those are the nanocrystals and the carbon nanotubes.

In order to comprehend the bizarre world of nanotechnology, we need to have an idea on the unit of measurements involved. One centimeter is a hundredth of a meter (1/100); a millimeter is a thousandth of a meter (1/1000); a micrometer is a millionth of a meter (1/1000000); one nanometer (nm) is a billionth of a meter (1/1000000000) – a hundred-thousandth smaller than the width of a human hair.

The table below shows some comparison:

• Head of a pin (1 millimeter) = 1000000 nanometers
• Red blood cells (2.5 micrometers) = 2500 nanometers
• Carbon nanotubes = 2 nanometers.
• Atoms nucleus = 0.00001 nanometers

With something small as this, we can now create things at an atomic level.  Although the nanoscale is larger than the atomic scale, it is more interesting because it is the first point where scientists can assemble something. Some areas of physics are now emerging as the foundation of nanotechnology. These are: nanoelectrocnics, nanophotonics, and nanomechanics.

Many scientists, biologists, physicists, chemists and engineers are now involved in the study of substances at the nanoscale. Thus, it has now become an interdisciplinary field.

So what does this all imply? This only goes to show that scientists are experimenting on substances at nanoscale to learn more about their properties and how they can be able to make innovations of them in various scientific applications. The doctors and other medical Scientists are searching for ways to utilize nanoparticles in medical applications and the likes. On the other hand, engineers are developing ways to use nano-sized wires to create smaller integrated circuits, controllers, and microprocessors.

With the blinding speed of progress in the field of nanotechnology, a lot of advancement and nanotechnology-enhanced products are now out in the market. The consumer world is now exploding with nanotechnology-enhanced products. Consumer products will be an area, according to experts, as nanotechnology impacts will be made most and acknowledged by the majority of the people.

In sports, there are now available tennis balls and rackets that are nanotechnologically-engineered. In the fabric world, we now have pants that repels water, nano socks, and shirts that won’t stain. There are also nano ceramic coatings used to produce sharp and quality digital photos. In the world of electronics, PlayStation, Xboxes, and game cubes had replaced pong, fragger and PacMan with the application of nanotechnologies. The blackberries, cell phones, digital cameras, LEDs, MP3s, thin film batteries, and flexible electronics are some that are benefited from nanotech in some ways. There are also developments in the biotech world where some real world applications are being used such as bandages embedded with silver nano particles. Man-made skin that is nanotech-fabricated network is now presently used in skin-grafting applications. Other biotech applications under development are the diabetic insulin biocapsules and the use of radioactive biocapsules in cancer therapies.

Our planet is filled with vast applications that nanotechnology can be of use. It is only a matter of time that we are all going to say that smaller is better for everything.