Nanotechnology
1. NANOTECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on the nanoscale. A nanometer is a very small measure of length-it is one billionth of a meter, a length so small that only three or four atoms lined up in a row would be a nanometer. So, nanotechnology involves designing and building materials and devices where the basic structure of the material or device is specified on the scale of one or a few nanometers. Ultimately, nanotechnology will mean materials and devices in which every atom is assigned a place, and having every atom in the right place will be essential for the functioning of the device.
The kinds of product that could be built will range from microscopic, very powerful computers to super strong materials ten times as strong as steel, but much lighter too, food to other biological tissues. All these products would be very inexpensive because the molecular machines that built them will basically take atoms from garbage or dirt, and energy from sunshine, and rearrange those atoms into useful products, just like trees and crops take dirt, water and sunshine and rearrange the atoms into wood and food.
Nanotechnology cannot be defined as a definite branch of science but different from the conventional ones that we have as of now. It is set to encompass all the technological aspects that we have today and is nothing but the extension of scientific applications to a microscopic scale and thereby reaching closer to perfection if not right there.
1.1 VIEW FROM AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
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2. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND NANOTECHNOLOGY - THE COMMON CHORD
The mechanical applications of nanotechnology are immense as it is in any other technological field. This paper concentrates on certain applications of interest viz. Carbon Nanotubes, Nanomachines and other related fields.
Carbon nanotubes
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on the nanoscale. A nanometer is a very small measure of length-it is one billionth of a meter, a length so small that only three or four atoms lined up in a row would be a nanometer. So, nanotechnology involves designing and building materials and devices where the basic structure of the material or device is specified on the scale of one or a few nanometers. Ultimately, nanotechnology will mean materials and devices in which every atom is assigned a place, and having every atom in the right place will be essential for the functioning of the device.
The kinds of product that could be built will range from microscopic, very powerful computers to super strong materials ten times as strong as steel, but much lighter too, food to other biological tissues. All these products would be very inexpensive because the molecular machines that built them will basically take atoms from garbage or dirt, and energy from sunshine, and rearrange those atoms into useful products, just like trees and crops take dirt, water and sunshine and rearrange the atoms into wood and food.
Nanotechnology cannot be defined as a definite branch of science but different from the conventional ones that we have as of now. It is set to encompass all the technological aspects that we have today and is nothing but the extension of scientific applications to a microscopic scale and thereby reaching closer to perfection if not right there.
1.1 VIEW FROM AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
[pic] [pic]
[pic] [pic]
2. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND NANOTECHNOLOGY - THE COMMON CHORD
The mechanical applications of nanotechnology are immense as it is in any other technological field. This paper concentrates on certain applications of interest viz. Carbon Nanotubes, Nanomachines and other related fields.
Carbon nanotubes
References: PRESS, 2000 Molecular Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Dr.MIHALI ROCCO