Slashdot Mirror
Individual Chemical Bond Formed With STM
WillWare writes: "Using a scanning tunneling microscope at the Free University of
Berlin, scientists have for the first time manipulated single
molecules to perform a complete
chemical reaction. (Here are
STM pictures of the reaction happening.) ...the making of C12H10
molecules from C6H5I molecules, normally carried out on a copper
catalyst and using thermal activation, has here been forced to proceed by employing one
molecule at a time at a cryogenic temperature of 20 K. The researchers
believe that new manmade molecules, never before seen in nature, can
be engineered in this way, including the selective detachment or
replacement of parts of larger molecules for individual assembling of
molecular based nano-devices. The official article appears in Physical
Review Letters, 25 Sept." Nanites. That's all I have to say.
And just what does STM stand for?
Seems this process might be able to make a couple thousand synthetic molecules, but how useful will it be at creating bulk quantities?
I wonder if these methods could be scaled up and automated?
-josh
With the ability to custom create molecules, perhaps we could created a petrified Natalie Portman on the microscopic scale.
-josh
I don't know about the rest of you but I think nano technology is terrifying. We are getting very close to the point where there will be lots of people creating things that have never existed before in nature and for which there is no natural protection. The potential for accidental or intentional mass distruction is enormous. Think about the paranioa of genetically modified food, which is at least very close to something that exists in nature. Who knows what will happen to Molecule X when you weld a new Oxegen atom to it!
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
But a step closer to nanites? Come on!!!
Nobody seems to have a clear idea of what a nanite is, yet there are always claims after a discovery like this - "Nanites tomorrow!!!"
I would define a nanite as:
Having some sort of applicable intelligence, either as a function of what it is made of, or an AI in the truest sense of the meaning
Capable of acting individually or collectively.
Very, very small
Capable of receiving instructions, or acting autonomously.
I don't see how duplicating an existing chemical reaction in an organic compound could possibly bring us anywhere nearer to "nanites".
And yes, I know that being able to modify individual molecules is handy when creating tiny, tiny things, but you must remember carbon has some special properties which may be assisting here (c.f. electron clouds on benzene rings), and those properties may not be found in compounds suitable for nanites. This is just an organic compound, ferchrissakes!!!
A closer take on this would be "it's a step closer to being able to make the materials for nanites", and that, IMHO, is an important distinction. It's a bit like saying the discovery of silicon is a major step to making a Cray...
Strong data typing is for those with weak minds.
Strong data typing is for those with weak minds.
Transparent Aluminum
"A Keyboard...how quaint."
Blech. Signatures.
1) Wait ten years
2) See how far off their predictions are
3) Go to step #1
1) Read shallow, badly-researched fluff pieces about a new technology
2) Don't bother trying to find anything to read by anyone who has a reasonable, knowledge-based point of view of the topic
3) Adopt oh-so-hip more-blase-and-cynical-than-thou attitude
4) Go to step #1
Sluggy Freelance!
Nanites are biologicaly nanomachines that can make you stronger, more flexible, report data on your body, or kill you. They can be "killed off" from a master switch or by watching to much Golden Girls
- Sig
Now, the truly cool thing to build would be a self-assembler; an assembler that can build copies of itself. That's a toy for which people have yet to draw up a design.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
I truely believe that's what killed VR. I researched that topic, had a huge library of information, and it was really coming along. Then the media got a hold of it. Hyped the snot out of it. When people started seeing where it currently was, they got bored, and interest in what could occur dropped waaaaay down. If it hadn't, I'm positive that we would have more HMD's, as by now the cost to build them would be extremely cheap. (yes, there are the models like Sony has, but it doesn't do 6-degree location)
You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco
It stands for Super Terminating Machine. It's everything the T-1000 wanted to be, but wasn't. The T-1000 could have taken the tunneling method to kill John Connor. Instead of hunting John down, like a prototypical mimetic polyalloy, he simply shoots a sliver of himself into his mark. Then while John is running around the country with Linda and Uncle Bob, the T-1000 is tunneling his way through John's internal orgrans. Cyberdyne stock goes way up and ushers in the birth of The Matrix.
--
Will that help?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
> Where did you go to school, Bob Jones University?
He, he, yeah, they probably offered their famous Creationist Quantum Mechanics course that summer. The lab was conducted by Charlton Heston, demonstrating moving molecules with the tip of a bullet.
There is a theoretical superconductor that is a long n-alkane-like hydrocarbon chain with regularly spaced halogen molecules outboard to the backbone. The theoretical stats were impressive, something like superconductivity to 200 degrees C. The problem was forming the molecules long enough to be useful and then orienting them.
There are hydrocarbons that can perform this type of function and they are called Buckminsterfullerines. They come in two main varieties: Buckyballs (soccer-ball type molecules - C60 and C90) and Buckytubes (long Carbon nanotubes). Buckytubes are nanometres wide but can be made to incredible lengths (theoretically they can bypass the typical 70-mile length limit of regular cables). These tubes can be made to such incredible lengths by chemically bonded the ends of each piece of tubing together. Does this STM process have anything to do with that? Because to construct long Buckytubes, you would need to manipulate molecules at the atomic level which this STM process can provide.
Apparently these Buckytubes can be used to make ultra-small circuits. Which should bring computers up to enough speed to complete one of those bloody SETI@home packets in less than a day!
Self Bias Resistor
"You gotta save yourselves, from yourselves." - Rennes, Cube
----------
When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.