nano tech

Discussion in 'Physics & Math' started by donpollard, Nov 10, 2001.

  1. donpollard Registered Member

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    I know this is kinda vague ... but im new here and know nothing ... so, can some one explain nanotech to me?
     
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  3. Rick Valued Senior Member

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  5. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    note

    I can only add that to my mind nanotechnology is one of the most promising and revolutionary technologies ever to date.

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  7. Congrats Bartok Fiend Registered Senior Member

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    I'll say I know very little about science in depth, but nanotechnology has always been that one idea that gave me almost a religious epiphany just thinking about it. The thought of total integration inside and outside of everything is totally thrilling. When I think about technology conquering the very smallest depths of matter and taming it, it just gets me.

    Although you can feel guilty about not letting the very small stuff alone, like if we can somehow enhance every atom on the Earth by re-wiring it, aren't we taking one hell of a risk?

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    But alas, beside th point. I'm so proud to be a technological human!
     
  8. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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  9. rde Eukaryotic specimen Registered Senior Member

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  10. Greg Bernhardt www.physicsforums.com Registered Senior Member

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    nano-warfare... now thats scarey!
     
  11. scilosopher Registered Senior Member

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  12. rayview Registered Senior Member

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    I wonder... What will be the next big step in current technology that will bring us closer to the possibilites nanotechnology?
     
  13. ImaHamster2 Registered Senior Member

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    Every other week someone announces a nanotech “breakthrough”. (Last week there were announcements of two labs interconnecting dissimilar materials with working junctions at the nanoscale.) People are working on nanotech from many different angles, e.g. electronics, biotech, biomedical, chemical, etc. Everything from basic research to marketable products.

    This hamster guesses that no breakthroughs are needed. Nanotech is here and will grow in importance.

    What advance would help? A good nanotech power supply. (Fuel cell, battery, solar power, microwave beamed energy,…)
     
  14. Adam §Þ@ç€ MØnk€¥ Registered Senior Member

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  15. SeekerOfTruth Unemployed, but Looking Registered Senior Member

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    Add to that a communications and guidance capability...
     
  16. ImaHamster2 Registered Senior Member

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    Bell Labs is working on micro scale antennas. Power and high bandwidth communications in one package?
     
  17. SeekerOfTruth Unemployed, but Looking Registered Senior Member

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    First, the amount of energy an RF antenna can receive is directly proportional to the wavelength of the transmission you are trying to receive and the size of the antenna. Micro antennas may not work well for anything smaller than 10 GHz or higher transmissions.

    Second, the power used by the nano device will depend on the type of RF communications used. A simple rule is that the more data you want to pump through an RF pipe, the more power you need to do it.

    Also, typical RF communications may be hindered by the location of the nanobot/nanodevice. If it is located in an RF unfriendly place, for instance the human body, then standard RF communications may not be possible so something else need to happen.

    Perhaps biological signalling using DNA-like structures.
     
  18. scilosopher Registered Senior Member

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    Seeker w/nanotech it's supposed to be atom scale, you clearly know a lot about antennas, would conventional designs even be relevant in that context?

    Also biological signalling doesn't use DNA at least not as signalling is defined in biology. mRNA is certainly used to provide information to Ribosomes, and some analogous thing could be used, but it isnt easy to send information long distances with molecules. That's why we have nerves. Hormones are used of course, but they are relatively slow (though amplification after the receptor helps keep the reciever sensitive to even a weak signal).

    Although I'm not sure what size is considered doable by experts, I don't think that any self replicating system useful for any broad range of tasks is readily acheivable that is much smaller than the smallest cells of today (maybe 2 orders of magnitude ... though I haven't really looked into it closely and given it deep thought). Then again in the end I also bet that generalized machines won't end up being used as much as populations of more specialized ones.

    Regarding energy sources I would tend to think diffusible fuel and some kind of metabolic system for utilizing it more than batteries. Any kind of storage requires a lot of substrate to store the energy on/in.
     
  19. SeekerOfTruth Unemployed, but Looking Registered Senior Member

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    Scilosopher,

    No, I don't believe conventional antenna design would be relevant at the atomic level. At that level, I think the overriding concern will be for the thermal noise generated by the motions of the electrons. It will be difficult to differentiate the motions of electrons due to thermal noise from the motions of electrons due to an electromagnetic wavefront.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2002
  20. scilosopher Registered Senior Member

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    Seeker, looking at your post and then mine I don't know why I made such a dumb comment about antennas ... sorry. Sometimes I think there is too much noise in my head for me to communicate accurately with others ...

    I just had a thought that light might work if there was some way to relay signals from nanodevice to nanodevice thereby transmitting signals throughout even an optically dense material. The human eye can even detect a single photon ...
     
  21. rayview Registered Senior Member

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    As far as I heard, nano-engineers have been able to spell words, and make geometrical designs but nothing too complex yet, but how do they even do that? How do they control the atoms to get them where they want?
     
  22. Adam §Þ@ç€ MØnk€¥ Registered Senior Member

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    Atomic Force Microscopes, I think they're called. A gizmo that lets you manipulate individual atoms.
     
  23. malisha Registered Senior Member

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    This is true, IBM used the AFM to put the IBM logo on one of their xenon chips.
    Probably the smallest logo every made

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