Why is nanotechnology revolutionary?

Consider this: Graphite and Diamond are both made up of carbon. Graphite is soft, diamond is hard. Graphite is black, diamond is sparkling and transparent. Graphite is a good conductor of electricity and a bad conductor of heat. Diamond is a bad conductor of electricity and a good conductor of heat. Why such diagramatical difference in properties The reason is found in the atomic construction of the two substances. Graphite is arranged in sheets - like placing sheets of a newspaper one on top of the other. The sheets can slide over one another, so graphite is soft; the presence of free electrons between the sheets means that graphite is a good conductor of electricity. Diamond, on the other hand has its carbon atoms arranged as a crystal lattice. Hence there is no scope for movement of any atoms, no free electrons, and the tightly defined path between the atoms makes diamond a good conductor of heat. When scientists observed this phenomenon, it made them understand the power inherent in atomic arrangements. Soon experiments were underway to create new substances by rearranging atoms in ways not found naturally. The result was the formation of substances with hitherto unheard of properties. For example, a nanomaterial called a carbon nanotube, has enabled the creation of a tennis racket one sixth the weight of current rackets, yet twice as strong. The racket, made by the manufacturing giant Wilson, was used by Roger Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon. The creation of new materials means that we can now play with the very laws of nature. Things need not behave the way they did till now. Have you ever heard of plastic conducting electricity? Molecule-sized transistors? Robots so small that they are invisible performing surgery? All this is now possible with the help of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology - A simple introduction

Introduction

Tennis rackets a hundred times stronger than steel but one-sixth the weigh? Mini-cameras that can be swallowed like capsules, returning video footage of parts of the intestine that x-rays and endoscopy cannot hope to reach? Stain-repellant clothing? Things that, until just a few years ago, belonged to the realm of science fiction have today entered the world of reality - in the present, in today's everyday world. The technology that enables this super revolution to become part and parcel of our daily lives is called nanotechnology.

Nanotechology - Definitions

Wikepedia defines Nanotechnology as: "Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with structures 100 nanometers or smaller, and invoves developing materials or devices within that size."

Understanding the Nanometer

The next logical question: what is a nanometer? A meter is defined by the International Standards Organization as 'the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second'. A nanometre is, by definition, 10^-9 of a millimeter.

Effectively we can try visualizing a nanometer as the size of 10 hydrogen, or 5 silicon atoms in a line. Using this scale, an average human hair would be around 80,000 nanometers in cross section! An the head of a pin would be 100,000 nanometers in diameter!

In the next post, we will start to explore the working of the nano world.