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New Light-Activated Micro-Motor

Posted by timothy on from the does-not-play-ogg-files dept.

enkidu55 writes: "This link to Popular Science's website shows how a team of scientists in Germany have found that a certain polymer changes shape when hit with different wavelengths of light. They used this to stretch and compress a small spring sort of like the piston in a motor. Still pretty raw, but the potential is amazing."

1 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Incredibly revolutionary by PhysicsGenius · · Score: 0, Troll
    I'm sure some people are going to dismiss this with some cynical remark, but I'd like to go on record as saying that this device Will Transform The World. I mean, think about. Light-powered fans--when it gets hot, the fan runs faster. Amazing!

    And there's zero pollution. Whatever these polymers are, they are probably naturally occurring and easy to mine so it's really just a matter of slapping the thing together and putting it in a patch of sun. I wonder if Saran Wrap would work?

    Anyway, this is definitely one of the Big Stories of the year and maybe the century. What a world we live in.