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The World's Smallest Car
starexplorer writes "Start your Nano-engines? LiveScience.com is reporting that researchers at Rice University have designed the world's smallest car that is no more than 4 nanometers across. It has a chassis, axles and a pivoting suspension. The wheels are buckyballs. Why do it? The team wants to build a fleet of nanotrucks to carry atoms and molecules around minature factories." So it's not exactly self-powered, but it rolls. It's a start!
Sorry I'm late coming home, honey. I lost the car again.
From the too-much-time-on-their-hands dept.
And yet it still holds 10 clowns! Go figure.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
is this a perfect solution for men that have really large reproductive organs?
So how does this redefine the phrase COMPACT CAR?
Ignore Alien Orders
but how many clowns can you fit in one ?
Does the car scribble your name on a grain of rice too? My first impression was this had to be a joke. After careful thought I've come to the conclusion its a little ahead of its time. NanoTech is good for material sciences (right now), as it allows the design of materials from the atom up............I thought NanoTech as a manufacturing/computing medium was a LONG way away - if so - why an unpowered car?
Sheesh!
And the brethren went away edified.
"well sir, the car you just purchased has no doors, no tires to speak of, no airbags, nothing you can call a seat, no radio, missing bumpers and a horrible AC package.
....but i got good news."
This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
Can anyone else admit they feel humbled when they read things like this?
But can it run on peanut oil?
for the small people that helped make such a thing possible
...Perfect for producing nano-toxins that is.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
What's next nano-deabolt locks from Yale?
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
...making a really small Midas muffler shop.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
you're telling me that they're too lazy to carry something that freakin small?
How many microns/nanogram does it get?
Burn Hollywood Burn
Till they add an SUV to the lineup.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Could this be used to make materials that have significantly less friction going in one direction and more going the other. The possibilities are endless. Like Bar tables that when drinks are shifted across it can move around corners. and stop right at the customer. Cool
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Imagine all of your molecules being transported from place to place in a little nanocar caravan. Now that would be a sight, indeed!
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." -Archimedes
I can see the science team going to the board of directors:
BoD: What's the problem?
Scientists: Well, we need to be able to move atoms and molecules around in precise ways.
BoD: How can we help?
Scientists: We need some funding to build little, tiny trucks to carry them around in.
[long pause]
BoD: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No really guys, what did you need?
Time to redefine the term "short-haul trucking."
:-)
Will the nanotrucks need nano-union nano-drivers?
What about the nano-truckstops? Staffed with nano-waitresses?
etc. etc. etc.
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
they're under-compensating for their huge penises?
How much stuff (mass-wise) can it carry?
Doesn't seem very practical. There has to be a better way of moving atoms at that scale than wheeled robots? Physics are very different at that scale.
You know, there's a word for a vehicle that doesn't have an engine, or a bed, and is smaller than a car.
It's called a wagon.
Doesn't sound as cool, does it? But that's what it is, isn't it?
Rechargable nanomotors that don't break - that's what we need for this kind of thing. Its the holy grail for nanotech right now.
If you don't avoid all references to objects that move under their own power (and you're talking about nanotech), then you're sensationalizing the news. Its like saying "Fusion done in cold!" when you mean that someone built a fusion laser system in Anarctica. Obviously cold means something specific when its that close to the word "Fusion."
Keep up the sensationalism, and you can't get the point across when you come across something that's actually fantastic.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
I'm sure my wife will fail to parallel park again.
...when it's revealed they use non-union drivers at the factory.
That's right. All your base.
So now we have the world's smallest car, which could be driven by the world's smallest robot. What happens if we put the world's smallest motor in the car? Maybe he could use it to transport the world's smallest refrigerator, and write about his adventures with the world's smallest fountain pen.
It's a small world after all.
We start seeing nano size SUVs?
And you're still going to have trouble finding a place to park.
Worse, the authorities could probably use an ion as a "boot."
a modern day flea circus!
I wonder what kind of mileage it gets.
Uhhh... inchage? Millimeterage?
Pretend there is some witty statement here.
In order to be a car, which is/was originally slang for Automobile it needs to be self propelled. What they have created is the worlds first cart. More exact, the rolling stock for the worlds first cart.
Still cool as shyte anyway you slice it.
I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.
Don't forget the worlds smallest violin...
Pimp my nano car.
Here's a pic:
.
I hope they don't make the same mistake Ford made, and only offer it in black.
-AC
... better than Clint Jones' beater Saab.
The damn thing only gets 10 nanomiles per nanogallon!
Advice for my fellow geeks: before seeking out that threesome you dream of, you might see what a TWOsome is like first.
How? HOW? Anyone?
Nano-SUV.
With less cookies and better pictures at Nanotechnology Now
I don't care how small it is, the all important question is whether it flies or not.
The world must know.
liqbase
They sure have those clowns beat!
It's never just a game when you're winning. - George Carlin
Where's the VTEC and Type-R stickers?
The ground clearance sucks.
H
When VCR's are outlawed, only outlaws will have VCR's.
And if you're worried about a fender-bender in your nano-car, Earl Scheib has signed on for painting them with "no ups and no extras..."
Every time you call tech support, a little kitten dies.
As soon as they make parking spots for this tiny car, I'm sure there will be a line of SUV's waiting to take them.
Imagine how easy it would be to lose the keys for one of these...
The obligatory joke to make here would be that if they think they've made this truck small, wait 'til they see what happens when the Japanese get their hands on it.
Or maybe, because the researchers are in Texas, I could suggest that they are now embarking on a program to make the biggest nano-car in the 50 states. Or that maybe they didn't insist on sticking a pickup bed on the back. Or "wow, have we discovered the only Texans who are secure about their penis size?"
But I'm not going to make any of those jokes. I'm not even going to make any potentially +1 insightful comments about how the real-world applications of this in terms of actual trucks in little tiny factories are clearly pretty silly from where I'm sitting, because things work totally differently on the nano scale, and that's just clearly grasping at some sort of relevance (though obviously, the construction methods are important).
Know why I'm not going to make any of those comments? Because I just don't care anymore. I try so hard to be interested sometimes, studying toward a Ph. D in physics and engaging in interesting slashdot debate day after day, and sometimes I sit here and realize that I don't really care about any of it. I want to go outside. I hate this damn computer, this damn internet, all you moderators, and myself for posting here seeking approval for these stupid, inane remarks and pseudointellectual commentary I barf up, seeing it moderated to +5 by people who don't know any better. Deliver me from this, merciful God. My soul is devoid of humor, and my life is an empty, broken shell.
Anyone want to go out for a drink?
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
This was a spoof from venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson for the Sand Hill Challenge (VC Soap Box derby in Silicon Valley about 5 years ago). Its been picked up before as a serious story, here is Jurvetson unveiling the nanocar:
/ set-44201/
http://www3.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/452668/in
I hear tops speeds of over 240 miles per lightyear!
Stop invalid scientific research. Ask your local scientists to feed their lab rats with a phytoestrogen-free chow.
I was going to call it the world's smallest cart. Close enough to 'car' to get people's attention, and more accurate. And it, in no way, demeans the accomplishment.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
I've been watching for developments in nanotech ever since Engines of Creation was published back in 1985. It was a highly influential book for me, and I'm sure for many others. Progress has been a lot slower than some of us expected or hoped. This "car" brings forth two different feelings. . .
:)
First, a dejected sigh. It's not useful for anything, and it's a long, awfully long way from the sophisticated "assemblers" that Drexler foresaw 20 years ago, with their thousands (or millions?) of molecular components.
On the other hand. . . These guys have actually built a mechanism with multiple moving parts at the molecular level. This is the first thing I've seen that looks anything like "real" molecular nanotechnology, as opposed to mere nanoscale particles.
So, is the glass half empty or half full? There's a temptation to laugh at this pathetic little "car" today -- but future generations might look back and say this is where the nanotechnology revolution first germinated.
So they finally figured out what to use buckyballs for... We're living the dream folks.
Sadly, it was designed by GM, and so only gets 12 miles per gallon.
That would depend on whether its short-wheel-base or unbelievably-short-wheel base.
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
So will these nano-factories have little nano-underpaid-immigrant workers too?
It is so typical that when developing the industrial nano-cities of the future they chose to develop nano-cars instead of a sensible atomic mass transit system. If this policy continues the consumption of nano-gas will raise nano-oil prices so high that soon we will have to invade nano-arabia. I for one will continue to endorse nano-carpooling and the use of nano-bikes whenever possible,
This is the new Rick Moranis movie, right?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Finally an elegant solution to rising gas prices. Now it will once again only cost me 20 bucks to fill up the tank.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Did someone not get the joke?
Why isn't this comment +5 funny already? (When I read it I laughed aloud)
Hint: Some people "compensate" by buying big-ass SUVs...
What a relief it is to find that scientists are working so hard on making a teeny tiny car; I thought they might be spending their time trying to find a cure for cancer or some debilitating disease. *shudder*
I wonder if you could attach a dark material, and a light material, and have the car move ala the vanes in a radiometer. with a car this small, light should be able to move it. Of course you would need a slight vacuum. Another problem, would be that people still do not have facts as to how the radiometer works, just theorys.
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
If the Nano gets built in Detroit you can bet it won't get better that 20mpg, no matter how small the engine is.
Granted, this is very impressive science. But to say it's a 'car' reminds me of those ads for sea monkeys from comics years ago: The ones which showed them as basically being a little underwater nuclear family. Still bought some though! http://seamonkeys.3wpages.com/ComicSeamonkeyAd1.jp g
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Okay so guys with small penises buy big cars.... Finally they have made a car suitable for me!
Can I get it with some radioactive atoms, give it that nice green glow..
Wadlow: [lifts Nelson out of the sewer by his head]
Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?
Nelson: Yeah.
Wadlow: Everyone needs to drive a vehicle, even the very tall.
[turns Nelson to face the car]
This was the largest auto that I could afford. Am I therefore to be made the subject of fun?
Nelson: I guess so.
Can it make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs?
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
They are called "rails"
they fix the cigarette lighter.
Sure, it's compact, but ten to one the crash rating sucks.
Researchers assemble fewer than a dozen chromium atoms into the world's smallest spinnaz.
It still does not fly...
Wonder how long until we have nanocities.
Dude, where's my car?!
One of the links after the article:
4 27.html
The smallest fridge
http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_050
And it demonstrates the problems predicted by skeptics: The system had to be heated to the point that the carbon would debond from the gold so it could roll. I suspect it was a very bumpy roll. This sort of problem isn't likely to go away easily.
Seastead this.
Bah, that's nothing. Wake me up when they make a little blue dune buggy.
"So it's not exactly self-powered, but it rolls." So headline should read "World's Smallest Soap-Box Racer"
Set your phasers on "funky"!
You can't sit in a nanontech car. This smallest car ever is still the Fiat 500. Here's an image. And yes, (theoretically) 4 people can sit in it.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
I hope they got permission; as was necessary for FAB1, which was (previously) the smallest rolls.
Max.
Does it come with a music system thats iPod nano ready?
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
"You can have any colour you want, as long as it is electron microscope image greenish type colour"
Now to the plant! ...but sir
<Mr Burns> We'll take the Spruce Moose
*Mr Burns picks up model plane
<Mr Burns> Hop in!
<Smithers>
*Mr Burns cocks gun and points it at Smithers
<Mr Burns> I said hop in
A "car," to most people, is something which is self propelled. Maybe this is the world's smallest skateboard?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
This supposed 'breakthrough' and all they can offer up is a phony rendered image? I have serious doubts this even happened. Any nanomachining-capable place would be able to image what they made. Hey, are those WMD's in the background???
Reads Slashdot?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Trouble? 65 nm/h should be like standstill for a car that measures 4 nm across..
...it's bondo.
The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
... how many MPG do you get with it ?
It's how you use it.
If one of the numerous automakers pick this line up, do you think Apple might make a stink since it's based on NANO technology? I can see the lawsuits now...
And I lift my glass to the awful truth which you can't reveal to the ears of youth except to say it isn't worth a dime.
Now we can use the strings from string theory to make a rubberband engine for the car!
-:) Oh no - not again.
www.rednebula.com
Now we started off with nanocars. In future we'll have nano weapons of mass destruction(NWMD). Nano race, nano computers, nano world wars etc. Good luck for your future.
Spam: Any activity on internet to gain popularity without paying to advertising companies like Google.
Oh, come on! we have vi[m], why use nano?
What, do I need a sig now?
I did not see this technology coming.
But... it has no engines. "So it's not exactly self-powered, but it rolls."
So, they're not really the world's smallest cars, are they? I'd say they're the world's smallest buggies. Now all we need is some nanohorses!
The guy from jackass the movie would of like to stick this up his ass instead of the normal size matchbox car he used.
I guess you have to send it to a quantum mechanic.
Can you imagine the power to weight ratio of this baby if you dropped a big block chevy into it?
That car would scream!
PS It doesn't look like the second site will weather a slashdotting. Just lettin ya know!
But how are they going to miniaturize the shop steward who says only union buckyball-drivers can drive that barrel of protons from point A to point B, and that a different driver has to move it from point B to point C?
The reason it doesnt have a motor is your basic physics. Make a motor 10 times smaller, and its power output goes down by a factor of 1,000, but the friction only down by a factor of 100. Ten times more friction than before, proportionally. Do this just a few times and you have a motor that can't even turn itself over. Kinda reminds me of a Chevette diesel. This imbroglio happens many many powers of ten up the scale from this nano-idiocy. It may look cool but its very unlikely to ever be mobile.
John Moschita's gonna have to talk REALLY fast to sell these!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Just wait until 'pimp my ride' gets hold of it...
Not to diss the creators and their accomplishment, but a pair of axles on a chassis hardly fits anyone's definition of a car. A cart, maybe.
Suddenly today's Dr. Fun Cartoon makes sense now. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It grits its teeth, sweats a lot, and gyrates suggestively to techno music.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
I was fascinated by the idea (/. inspired), so i followed up on it by interviewing the head researcher. he gave me links to video of the Nanocar driving around, too. And filled me in on a new internal nanoscale motor. I wrote up my findings in this pcmag news story.
-robyn
Is it controlled by Linux ?
How many beans make five, anyhow ?