 |
 |
 |
   |
   |
|
|||
|
|||
| |
|
|
Nanotechnology Very very very, a lot small. Ever thought it would be great to be small... really small... smaller than a virus? Smaller than a thousandth of a millimetre? That's the nano-world. What are these nano-machines? How can we build things using atoms like Lego bricks? Art even! Tiny machines designed to run around inside your bloodstream, delivering medicines or cleaning your arteries... Paint that regrows to cover the scratch after you crashed into a fence...Is this for real or just science fiction? Maybe you just want to be like Spiderman and climb up walls? Well, Gecko tape is the answer! Or maybe you just don't want to have to wash your clothes... nanotechnology can help YOU! Nanotechnology has even worked out a way to make clothing bulletproof. Seriously though, we're building special machines to work at this scale... and these 'synchrotrons' aren't small! Is there anything better than a swiss army knife? Well, in about 20 years, there might be. Scientist are developing a new technology called Claytronics, which will be the ultimate swiss army knife. What's hiding behind the walls in your room? Researchers are working on a new material which could be used to make "see-through walls" . Isn't that just glass? No quite. Information about study & careers in nanotechnology. Background Notes A brief synopsis of each of the nanotechnology items in our shows and links to our references.
Gecko feet have hairs on the hairs on the hairs on the hairs. The smallest hairs are only a few nanometres wide (one nanometre, or 1 nm, is 1 x 10-9 m, or one millionth of a millimetre), and it's these nanohairs that enable geckos to climb walls, run over windows and to stick to the ceiling with only one toe. Recently, scientists have made a tape that mimics the way gecko feet work. The tape is made up of lots of little plastic hairs with nanohairs on top These nanohairs can stick to walls and ceilings using attractive forces called capillary forces and Van der Waals forces*. (You can think of van der Waals forces as something similar to the pull of two magnets towards each other, or the static force between your hair and a balloon that you rub on it - but they're not magnetic or static.) One little nanohair by itself wouldn't be able to hold anything, but when you put a whole lot of them in a small space (and 100 million fit on 100 mm2), they're really, really strong. For example, to stick a human adult to the ceiling, you'd only need a piece of gecko tape as big as your hand. This begs the question, if gecko tape and gecko feet can stick to surfaces so well, how do geckos walk? If you try to pull all the tape/gecko foot off at once, it won't budge; but if you start from one edge of the tape/gecko foot and peel carefully, the nanohairs are easily removed. This is the way geckos walk and run - they peel their feet off the wall, and because they've been doing it for a very long time, they're very good at it, and can do it very fast. The gecko tape works in a very similar way - you can stick it to a surface and it's very strong, and then you can peel it off from one edge. The tape can then be stuck somewhere else, and then peeled off and stuck somewhere else. However, the problem with the tape is that after a few times of sticking and peeling, the tape loses its stick. The scientists had a careful look at the tape and discovered that the nanohairs were either sticking to each other, or breaking and falling off. So there is research into finding a better material to make the gecko tape out of, something stronger and more durable. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we'll be able to buy gecko tape and solve our climbing problems. * What are Van der Waals forces? Basically, they are weak, attractive forces between atoms or molecules that are near each other (but not actually bonded to each other). The force of attraction occurs between a slight positive charge on a region of an atom or molecule and a slight negative charge somewhere on the other. References
Return to top. This technology is based on the way lotus leaves prevent water from soaking into them. The leaves have tiny nanosized bumps that are so small that drops of water cannot fit between them. Instead the water sits on top of the leaf until it dries out or is tipped off. Someone thought about applying this to clothes. They put tiny bumps in the material that prevent water (or any liquid) soaking in to it. Despite these bumps, the shirts and trousers made out of this material still feel just like normal clothes. Reference
Return to top. The CSIRO have found a way to produce super strong and fibres that could be used in bullet proof clothing and surf-wear. What’s going on? Who’s doing it? The researchers have physics and computing backgrounds. They used computer simulations to model how the nanotubes could be twisted. They then took their concept to company called NanoTech in Texas, where they “grow” the nanotubes. They are now improving the process of spinning, with an eye on future commercial opportunities. How do I get into it? References • More info on the CSIRO research Return to top. Nanotechnology is a new and exciting field of science and technology and purely because it is so new, we don't yet know the limits of what it can do. This means that many scientists are currently just mucking around with nanotechnology, trying to see what exactly is possible.
References
Return to top. This technology is a 'super microscope' which has applications in a number of sciences; including medicine, biology, chemistry, materials and physics. In order to see things on a nano-scale, we're going to need a super microscope. Fortunately, there are super microscopes all over the world, and one is being built in Melbourne. It's called a Synchrotron, and it's a little big to fit in a pocket (the Australian Synchrotron is relatively small at 216 m in circumference, compared with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France which is 850 m circumference! The way it works is you take an electron, spin it around on a 'booster ring' until it's traveling really fast, and then send it out around the 'storage ring'. Magnets are used to direct the electrons, to make them travel really fast, and to focus their energy. Every time the electron changes direction (according to the magnets), it sends out synchrotron energy, and this energy can be used to do a lot of things. To get an idea about how powerful the energy is; a torch is to a laser, the same as X-rays are to synchrotron energy. The synchrotron can be used in:
References
Return to top. The CSIRO and University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) are working together with a number of other partners to design and build a nanohouse. This isn't a house on a nanometre scale (1 x 10-9 m), but a new type of energy efficient, sustainable, mass customisable housing system. The nanohouse is a way of demonstrating applications of nanotechnology, how they work, and how they interact with each other and conventional materials. Some of the new technologies include:
You can even already buy things that make good use of nanotechnology! ZinClear is a transparent zinc cream. The bits of zinc in nanozinc are nanometre sized, so we can’t see them. However, they still make a physical barrier between you and the Sun. At last a way to get protection from the Sun without having a white or fluorescent coloured nose! Also check out the stain-resistant clothes. References
Return to top. If you thought the shape-shifting baddies from the Terminator movies only exist in movies, then think again. Scientists from the US are currently developing a new technology called ‘Claytronics’. They are working on a new particle-type material, which is made of tiny self-organising robots called ‘claytronic atoms’ or ‘catoms’. Catoms can stick to each other and communicate with built-in wireless technology. The goal is to create a shape-shifting material which can replicate an object of any shape instantly - anything from a knife, to a bowl, to a human. They currently have catoms the size of tennis balls which can replicate objects, but using advanced nanotechnology, they hope to reduce each catom to the size of a dust particle which will mean claytronics will be able to replicate objects with a higher definition. References
Return to top. Have you ever wondered what’s hiding behind the walls in your room? Maybe it might be treasure, dead rats, or even a skeleton. Imagine what was hidden behind the walls when it was built. In the future we might just be able to shine a special light on the wall and it will go transparent like glass. Reference
Return to top.
|
       |
