Science of the Small

[AllWalker]

A new story entry has been added:

Science of the Small

What is nanotechnology, and why do people study it?
The definition fed to us from dictionaries and the like is the rather bland and unhelpful: any science where at least one of the dimensions is less than 100 nanometres (nm), where 1 nm is equal to 10 to the minus 9 metres long (0.000000001 metres). For reference, the length of the bond between the two atoms in a hydrogen molecule is about one-tenth of a nanometre. The cells that make up your body are on the order of 1000 nm. So when I talk about the science of the small, hopefully you appreciate exactly how small I mean.

But that description is hardly sexy, and it tells us little. When asked by laymen, what is nanotechnology, I respond simply by saying it involves molecular machines, the design and construction of devices and systems that are built up from just a few molecules apiece. Easier to understand, though I can

[The Original An Gadaí]

I really enjoyed this article but I think it could be formatted better. That is, I think it needs more illustrations to break up different sections and the background colour clashes with the text colour. The article is hard work (in a good way) but I think more people would be apt to read it if it were more easy on the eye. I dunno where you would source relevant royalty free images but I really think the right images would lift the whole thing. As I say this is more an issue of formatting than with the content of the article, which I found fascinating.