Re: [silk] The Buckymobile Is Born

[kalyan]

Read the linked NYTimes article. Very nice...

 

But how does one control movement. Or where does the power come from?

 

--Kalyan

"Christopher M. Kelty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

btw, http://frazer.rice.edu/nanotech = "my class"

ck

On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 05:09:19PM +0530, Udhay Shankar N wrote:
> CKelty, have you run into these folks?
>
> Udhay
>
> http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=14095&hed=The+Buckymobile+is+Born
>
> The Buckymobile Is Born
>
> Researchers at Rice University have built a
> one-molecule car, complete with working chassis, axles, and wheels.
>
> October 21, 2005
>
> Rice University scientists have constructed a car
> a little wider than a strand of DNA, complete
> with rotating wheels, functioning axles, and a chassis.
>
> The design details of the world’s smallest
> vehicle will be published in a future edition of
> the journal Nanoletters, according to a statement issued Thursday.
>
> Scientists working on single-molecule machines
> with a mechanical function have created molecules
> that resemble motors, switches, turnstiles,
> gears, gyroscopes, and even elevators.
>
> While other groups have created single molecules
> shaped like automobiles, these have moved by
> slipping and sliding across a surface.
>
> In contrast, the Rice University nanocar has
> carefully designed carbon-rich sections of the
> molecule that provide a pivoting suspension and freely rotating axles.
>
> Its wheels are hollow spheres composed entirely
> of carbon atoms, known to chemists as
> buckminsterfullerenes (named for the inventor
> Buckminster Fuller), or buckyballs for short.
>
> Out for a Test Drive
>
> This means that the nanocar functions much like a
> real automobile, moving forward at an angle of 90
> degrees to its axles as its wheels turn.
>
> “We’d eventually like to move objects and do work
> in a controlled fashion on the molecular scale,
> and these vehicles are great test beds for that,”
> said James M. Tour, the Chao Professor of
> Chemistry and professor of mechanical
> engineering, materials, and computer science at Houston’s Rice University.
>
> “Proving that we were rolling—not slipping and
> sliding—was one of the most difficult parts of
> this project,” said Kevin F. Kelly, assistant
> professor of electrical and computer engineering.
>
> The car is approximately one twenty-thousandth
> the width of human hair. Therefore, the
> researchers had to prove it could roll on its
> wheels using a highly sensitive microscope called
> a scanning tunneling microscope.
>
> They took pictures with the microscope every 60
> seconds to follow the car’s progress over a
> heated gold surface and then pulled the car
> backwards. The latter test showed it was easier
> to drag the nanocars in the orientation that
> their wheels rolled, as opposed to pulling them sideways.
>
> The Rice University group has also made a
> nanotruck capable of carrying some cargo, albeit tiny loads.
>
> The National Science Foundation, Welch
> Foundation, and Zyvex, a Richardson, Texas-based
> nanotechnology company, funded the research.
>
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>

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