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Nanotechnology Harnesses the Power of Light
madirish2600 writes "There's a Washington Post story running about some German scientists who have used light to create a nanotechnology spring. 'Scientists have for the first time used the power of light to create mechanical energy for a microdevice, making a single molecule of plastic drive a tiny machine.'"
Now all they need is a microscopic diver to go off this diving board.
Slightly off-topic, but imagine the merging of this technology with the whimsical, counter-intuitive machines of Rube Goldberg. The nanosprings could be combined with nanoballs, nanochutes, nanoratchets, nanopteradactyls, etc... to fabricate imaginative contraptions that would only be visible to high-power microscopes.
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
Azobenzene is known for its kinkiness. That made me laugh. After reading the article, I was thinking, "go go gadget" and some Maxwell Smart type things. Or maybe a fiber-optically powered hamster wheel? Is anyone else, at mention of nanotechnology, immediately reminded of MST3k? Speaking of Nanites, how about that one guy on techTV, that does the "Call for Help" segment? He reminds me of a nanite from MST3k every time I see him.
If you can read this, you are most likely close enough.
an ensey-weensy Slinky.
"look, it's walking!"
"I can't see anything..."
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
Lets get small.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Sure this whole tiny engine thing is good but I just want to know when this nano-technology is going to make ALL women as hot as 7 OF 9
I wonder how feasable this would be in the long term as a replacement for solar panels. How much wattage can you get out of a square meter of light exposed surface?
If these things can be tuned to specific frequencies as was suggested, I would think this would have some fun oplications in digital photography miniaturization or transplant retinas or something like that.
- learn mathematics - shoot dope -
Like shockabsorbers for nanocars.
Retractable ball-point nanopens.
And perhaps the best, what rolls down nanostairs, alone or in pairs, the nanoslinky.
Okay, so now we got the motors, the gears. Now all we need are the wheels, a good nanostereo system and GM can sell cars to bacteria.
These things are all very interesting, but has anyone managed to do anything of use with them?
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
It seems to me that it's not really energy power that creates mechanical energy as in "energy conversion" but rather that light energy triggers something in the molecule.
One specific frequency makes it contract, another one makes it expand itself, behaving then much like a spring and possibly moving a weight or bending a board.
the article is light on details (no pun intended), but I don't feel the light energy, related to its frequency has much to do with the released, or activated mechanical energy, and it seems to me that in fact bending the board might represent more work from the molecule than what the activating light is providing, so I think some energy could be leaked from the molecule itself.
Besides, the article says near the end that the molecule breaks after being used a whole day so that tere is work to be done, which makes me feel that indeed, some energy might be taken from the very molecule to achieve the "spring effect".
But then, what work could they actually do against that ? the destruction of the structure is bound to happen unless the pure photonic energy is used in the experiment (but then, why would it break in the first place, and how would that work ?)
Any chemist or physicist to correct me or explain me how this is working ?
*Yawn*. Next, after the commercial break:
-Scientists use magnetism to do stuff
-Scientists use gravity to linearly accelerate falling objects
-Scientists harness laws of physics in a creative fashion
- undoware.ca
- David A. Wheeler (see my Secure Programming HOWTO)
So if they get the diving board to move a filter that switches between the two wavelengths, they can make the nanospring flex cyclically?
Boingy boingy boingy
By shining one frequency of light on the device, the team was able to crimp the molecule, causing it to pull the diving board downward - converting light into mechanical energy. When another light frequency was used, the molecule relaxed.
Not quite sure, but if the molecule stays in the kinked or relaxed state absent all light, could they not mount little mirrors on top that would swivel and then use this tech as a massive, persistent, extremely fast, storage mechanism? Sort of like a re-writeable CD but in solid state?
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
Laser tweezers
, of course, it begs the question as to whether the machine is minaturised is the power source is macroscopic.
I wonder, if you just let ordinary white light fall on the molecule, does it keep on bouncing wildly as it gets hit by different photons of the frequencies of light that it is sensitive to?