NANOTECHNOLOGY: THE TECH OF A VERY SMALL FUTURE.

Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale.  Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other objects possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers.

            Nanotechnology measures miniscule things in Nanometers. One nanometer is 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter. To put that into comparison a nanometer to a meter is like a marble next to the earth. The amount an average man’s beard grows in the time it takes him to lift his razor to his face is also about a nanometer. Another example of a nanometer is a helium atom which is one tenths of a nanometer thick.

            Materials commonly used in the science of nanotechnology are called fullerenes. Fullerenes are molecules made up completely out of carbon. They are similar in structure to graphite which is made up of stacked graphene sheets (rings with six flat sides linked in a honeycomb pattern.) SEE IMAGE 2 Fullerenes are different because they can have rings different amounts of sides (five six and even sometimes seven). They come in the form of hollowspheres, ellipsoids, and tubes. Hollowsphere and ellipsoid fullerenes are also called buckyballs. The tube-shaped ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes .These nanotubes can get to a length to diameter ratio of 132,000,000:1. That’s like having a giant straw that is one mile wide and stretches up to the sun and halfway back! The most common carbon nanotube is carbon fiber and is found in golf clubs, baseball bats, and even car parts. Manufacturers use carbon fiber frequently because it is very lightweight and strong.

           

 In nanotechnology particles are defined as small things that act as a whole unit. Particles are sorted by size into three categories: coarse particles, fine particles, and nanoparticles. Coarse particles, the biggest type, are between 2,500-10,000 nanometers in size. Fine particles, the smaller ones, are between 100-2,500 nanometers in size. Nanoparticles the absolute smallest particles are between 1-100 nanometers in size. A particle behaves as a whole unit and is a small object.

All in all, nanotechnology is important to the world because it can create materials that are extremely lightweight, durable, flexible, or even all of the above together.

Graphene is an atomic-scale honeycomb lattice made of carbon atoms.

Buckminsterfullerene (C₆₀) is a member of the carbon family and is a hollowsphere fullerene (which is also known as a buckyball).