The world really is getting smaller, at least when you consider nanoscience. Nanoscience is the science that explores very small structures and gets the name from nanometer, 1 X 10-9 meters or 1 billionth of a meter. Pull one hair out of your head. Look at how wide it is. A nano is 40,000 times smaller than the width of your hair. There are 1 billion nanometers in a meter so these are things that are very, very small. A special microscope is needed to image them.
Nanoscience looks at nano in nature and nanotechnology works to develop technologies that are based on the nano scale. Lotus leaves are covered with nano sized hairs to repel water, geckos have nano hairs on their feet that allow them to walk up glass, and butterflies have nano hairs that make their colors amazing. In nanotechnology things are planned and built using molecules as the building blocks. They have even invented tiny robots so small that they can travel in our veins and organs. It is exciting to imagine what one can do on such a small scale!
By working on the nano scale new technologies are being imagined and developed in nanotechnology. Carbon fibers are an example that are being used as super-strong fibers that can be shaped into objects that are very light in weight. Special fabrics are made with nano scale hairs like the gecko for rock climbing shoes. Scientists are even talking about making nanofiber cables that would be so strong that they could be used to build an elevator to space.
This month’s mission of the month zooms in to explore the world of nano and how nano can be used to make new products.
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