NANOTECHNOLOGY: AN IMAGINATION OF GOLDEN TOMORROW!

When it comes to Nanotechnology two words strikes in our mind, nm (1nm= 10

m) and Nano

Car by Ratan Tata!!!!!!!

Nanotechnology

is defined as the study and use of

structures between 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers in
size. The illustration The Scale of Things, created by
U.S. Department of Energy, provides a comparison of
various objects to help you begin to envision exactly how
small a nanometer is. The Chart starts with object that can
be seen by the by the unaided eye, such as an ant, at top of the chart, and progresses to objects
about a nanometer or less size ,such as the ATP molecule used in humans to store energy from
food.

Nanotechnology is not a new knowledge or a subject for us. It has been used for over centuries
as Kajal for eyes. Humans have unwittingly employed nanotechnology for thousands of years,
for example in making steel, paintings and in vulcanizing rubber. In 1950 electrical engineer
Orther von hippel belonging to MIT shows the possibility of molecular engineering and talked
about nano molecules. The topic of nanotechnology was again touched upon by "There's Plenty
of Room at the Bottom," a talk given by famous physicist Nobel Laureate Richard
Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman
described a process by which the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules might be
developed, using one set of precise tools to build and operate another proportionally smaller set,
so on down to the needed scale. In the course of this, he noted, scaling issues would arise from
the changing magnitude of various physical phenomena: gravity would become less important,
surface tension and Van der Waals attraction would become more important, etc.
Nanotechnology and nanoscience got a boost in the early 1980s with two major developments:
the birth of cluster science and the invention of the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). This
development led to the discovery of fullerenes in 1985 and the structural assignment of carbon
nanotubes a few years later.
Centre for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has often promoted the idea that molecular
manufacturing will make solar collection and storage far more efficient and cost effective. This
news about the unique absorption properties of carbon Nano tubes is a meaningful step toward
the realization of CRN's hope
that solar power can play a vital
role in meeting the world's
energy needs without pouring
more greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere.
The debate continues with
varying opinions about what
nanotechnology can achieve
.Some
researchers
believe
nanotechnology can be used to
significantly extend the human
lifespan or produce replicator
like device that can create
almost anything from simple
raw materials. Other see
nanotechnology as a tool to help
us do what we do now, but faster and better .Finally, all the opinions about what nanotechnology
can help us to achieve echo with ethical challenges. Is there sufficient understanding or

regulation of nanotech based materials to minimize possible harm to us or our environment? We

need to find answer to these questions!!!!

Mayank Gupt
makguffaw@gmail.com