Nano

Patricia Claire C. Castañares September 21, 2015

STS 40 Prof. Patricia Nazareno

Nanotechnology has been described as a science and engineering resulting from the manipulation of atoms and molecules.

1. Describe in detail how this transformative technology works.

Nanoscience is the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scales, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale. It is the study of materials that exhibit remarkable properties, functionality and phenomena due to the influence of small dimensions. Bulk materials possess continuous physical properties. The same applies to micron-sized materials. But when particles assume nanoscale dimensions, the principles of classic physics are no longer capable of describing their behavior: at these dimensions, the principles of quantum mechanics. The same material at the nanoscale can have properties which are very different from the properties the material has at the macroscale. The laws of traditional physics describe our macroscopic world. The laws of quantum physics gives a universal image of our world. These laws are essential to our understanding of the nanoworld. Quantum physics gives a completely different version of the world on the nanometric scale than that given by traditional physics. A molecule is described by a cloud of probability with the presence of electrons at discrete energy levels; this can only be represented as a simulation. All measurable sizes are subject to the laws of quantum physics which condition every organism in our world, from the atom to the different states of matter. The nanoworld must therefore be addressed with quantum concepts. Chemistry is quantum. The chemistry of living organisms is quantum. All properties of matter are explicable...