Q&A: Help with NASA’s use of Nanotechnology?

Question by Emil: Help with NASA’s use of Nanotechnology?
For my Science Research topic next year i hope to discuss the use of Nanotechnology foe space travel. Can someone help me understand what nanotech is? Every article i read says that nanotechnology “Shrinks” material, how does it do this? Also how does nanotech help us rearrange atoms? How does nanotechnology make chemical sensors? Also what is nanotechnology are they specialized cells?

Best answer:

Answer by stardust
I can answer part of your question. The study of nanotechnology, is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size. For more definitions, check out wikipedia as well as the nasa.gov site. Also, if you’re interested, Popular Science recently released an article about nanobots playing soccer. I found it to be very interesting.

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Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range. It is a highly multidisciplinary field, drawing from fields such as applied physics, materials science, interface and colloid science, device physics, supramolecular chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Much speculation exists as to what new science and technology may result from these lines of research. Nanotechnology can be seen as an extension of existing sciences into the nanoscale, or as a recasting of existing sciences using a newer, more modern term. www.majarikanayakan.com
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Is Nanotechnology Totally Useless According to You?

Is Nanotechnology Totally Useless According to You?

Nanotechnology is the science and art of constructing functional and sometimes powerful devices by manipulating single atoms until they are molecularly sized. In order to achieve some relativity on this, one must be aware that a molecule is measured in nanometers, which is, essentially, one billionth of a meter – an atom is ten times smaller than that.

As a revolutionary concept, nanotechnology covers a wide spectrum that can often be a double edged sword. In the right hands, the extreme capability of nanotechnology can be a positive contributor to medical advancements, environmental cleansing, energy conservation and many other areas that can largely improve human existence on our planet. The down side to nanotechnology is that in the wrong hands it can be a destructive force that may ultimately lead to the annihilation of human existence and even of our planet.

There are varying schools of thought on the benefits versus the threats of nanotechnology pursuits. One outlook is that replicating nanostructures could gobble up the entire planet in about three hours flat while another is that nanotechnology as a science could revolutionize medical treatments for conditions that are presently incurable using standard technology.

Nanotechnology has been credited with many beneficial improvements to existing products like fabrics that totally resist staining, scratch resistant eyewear and sunscreen that can endure greater exposure to the elements for longer periods of time. In addition, creating smaller, more powerful devices via this technology has been a positive contributor to revolutionary advancements in computers, more improved diagnostic medical testing and more efficient means of removing toxicity from areas afflicted with environment contamination. Anyone would have to agree that these advantages are certainly not totally useless attributes of nanotechnology.

Additionally, nanotechnology has been credited with creations from a biodegradable plastic made from waste products produced from fruit growing operations to experimental replacement bone tissue that will not be so easily rejected by the human body after transplant. The advantage of such a product will result in easing human suffering while actually contributing to an extended life span. Anybody wanting to improve on humanity would be hard pressed to declare breakthroughs like this as totally useless.

Despite its propensity to do good, nanotechnology could also lead to the creation of more compact and essentially more dangerous weaponry, which, if it fell into the wrong hands could lead to the development of chemical and biological weapons that are far more deadly, harder to avoid and much easier to conceal than conventional warfare.

Naysayers are quick to point out additional negativities of nanotechnology such as the ability of the military or other covert government organizations to conduct continuous, surreptitious surveillance on each and every citizen. Some go even further by concentrating on the hypothesis that nanotechnology, when used to advance greed and power, could result in total physical and/or psychiatric control of one faction over another.

Will nanotechnology ultimately result in ecophaghy – the consumption of the entire worldwide ecosphere – or will all these doomsday predilections just be totally useless fodder for overactive imaginations?

Great Things Come in Small Packages: Nanotechnology and Energy

Great Things Come in Small Packages: Nanotechnology and Energy

If current news is any indication, Nanotechnology is poised to play a significant role in the development of clean, less expensive energy. The potential of nanotechnology for solving some of today’s greatest energy challenges is vast.

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the molecular level in scales smaller than one micrometer, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range. For scale, a single virus particle is about 100 nanometers in width.

Encompassing nanoscale science, engineering and technology, nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter at this length scale.”

At this size dimension, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials differ in fundamental and valuable ways from the properties of individual atoms, molecules, or bulk matter. The properties displayed at the nanoscale create a host of potential innovative uses for nanomaterials. One of these uses includes the creation of exciting and revolutionary energy applications. These potential nanoscale energy applications apply to a host of different sources of energy, including hydrogen, geothermal, unconventional natural gas, fission, and solar energy.

While hydrogen is an energy storage medium, it is not a primary energy source. Therefore, full realization of hydrogen as an alternative energy source is frustrated by gaps in technology, which do not precipitate the efficient and cost-effective storage and transport of hydrogen. Nanoscience provides new approaches to basic questions about the interaction of hydrogen with materials to enable the efficient and cost-effective storage and transport of hydrogen.

Applying nanotechnology to geothermal energy increases the opportunities to develop geothermal resources by enhancing thermal conductivity or aiding in the development of noncorrosive materials that could be used for geothermal energy production.

The recovery of unconventional sources of natural gas is yet another potential application of nanotechnology. Unconventional sources of natural gas include tight sandstones, shale gas, and coal bed methane. Nanotechnology applications may prove useful in accessing or exploiting these unconventional natural gas sources. For instance, nanocatalysts and nanoscale membranes may prove useful in assisting in Gas to Liquids production. Furthermore, certain nanostructured materials may assist in compressed natural gas transport.

Nanotechnology may also prove useful in solving the waste problems of the nuclear energy industry. For instance, certain nano-engineered barriers may prove useful in preventing the migration of or containing nuclear waste products.

Nanotechnology applications may assist in making solar energy more economical. Nanoscience can be utilized to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells, creating cost-efficient conversion systems, effective solar power storage systems or even the generation of solar energy on a larger scale. For instance, “nanopatterning” can artificially change the optical properties of materials to allow light to be trapped in solar cells.

Nanotechnology might someday allow for more powerful, more efficient and less expensive energy generation, storage transmission and distribution. Nanotechnology is being used to optimize production from existing energy sources and to exploit new sources such as geothermal, liquefied natural gas, nuclear and solar energy. Nanotechnology is also improving and opening new possibilities for the transmission and storage of energy, especially electricity and possibly hydrogen in the future. Nanotechnologies have the potential to reduce energy consumption by making it possible to manufacture lighter and/or more