When I worked at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech for short), the most interesting person there was Professor Richard Feynman. Won a Nobel Prize in Physics but not attractive for that (because there were at least a dozen other Nobel Prize winning scientists!) attractive for his demeanor. He was allergic to anything formal or serious – but spent a lot of time with the students (I was impressed by his role as the janitor in the student play).
He used to have fun and do crazy things all the time. Soon after joining Caltech, a small instrument was spotted at the entrance to the physics department. It is written below that Professor Feynman believes that small machines have some kind of importance so he has organized a competition – a competition to build a small motor. The competition-winning motor is housed there – so small that it can't be seen well with the naked eye, a microscope is placed to look at it.
Looking through the microscope and holding the switch, you can see the tiny motor spinning. Since many days have passed, the importance of small appliances has not decreased so much but has increased. The tiny devices that are being made now are actually not visible even with a microscope. The technology used to make these devices is called nanotechnology.
Nanotech in short. Interestingly, if you look into the history of nanotech, you can see that it was first given by Professor Richard Feynman at a meeting of the American Physical Society in 1959, the title of which was: Lots of room at the bottom! We hear the word nano a lot these days, and it's not that the term isn't actually misused. However, the word nano is used correctly when referring to nanotechnology. To denote one thousandth part we say milli (103). The size of the top head of such a pin is one millimeter.
A millimeter divided into thousandths is a micrometer (105), The size of red blood cells in our body is few micrometers. A micrometer divided into thousandths is a nanometer (10). When something gets close to nanometers in size, it can no longer be seen with a normal microscope. That's because ordinary microscopes work with light and visible light wavelengths are four to seven hundred times larger than nanometers! For those interested, a thousand times smaller than a nano is called a pico (10^-12) and a thousand times smaller than a pico is called a femto (10^-15). If a device is made whose size is between 1 to 100 nanometers, then it is called nanotechnology.
It is understood that nanotechnology is not an easy matter and it is not possible to develop nanotechnology with a specific branch of science! Nanotechnology has developed simultaneously in physics, chemistry, Biology and of course with many engineering subjects. How scientists create things that cannot be seen even with an ordinary microscope is undoubtedly a matter of curiosity. But incredibly, modern synthetic chemistry has reached the point where scientists can arrange molecules to form any shape.
In 1999, Cornell University scientists placed a specific carbon monoxide molecule on a specific iron atom and sent a flash of electricity through it. Lawrence Berkeley Labs has at least three devices that are only a few nanometers in size and can be controlled using computers. One thing to remember here, These devices created using nanotechnology are not only tiny – they are subatomic in size, so their religion is very different from the known world.
As we never stand in front of a wall and worry that we will suddenly break the wall and move to the other side! It is a very natural phenomenon in the world of molecules and atoms because that world is very different from the world we know, it is governed by quantum mechanics. According to quantum mechanics, an electron almost routinely breaks through a barrier like a wall placed in front of it and moves to the other side.
So in our known world, what is a pure insulator in the world of nanotechnology, more or less electricity can flow through it. What is inactive in our known world suddenly becomes active in the world of nanotechnology. Gold is an example of that. Gold is an inert substance in the known world so it doesn't react with anything, it doesn't deform even over thousands of years. In the world of nanotechnology, gold is not passive at all, it is a very active molecule! The juggernaut of nanotechnology is just beginning to unfold, so no one knows very well what its future holds.
Many times in the past we have seen a technology that looks very promising, but in the end, the technical problems are so extreme that it ultimately fails. An example is high temperature superconductors. The euphoria it created around the world in the 1980s was eventually unsustainable. Almost all scientists and researchers in the world have abandoned it after not being able to make a usable high temperature superconductor despite many efforts.
Therefore, the excitement that is now in the world about nano technology, whether it can be retained in the end or not is in the minds of many. There is a little doubt. The success of any technology depends on creating something useful for people with it. As such, nanotechnology is quite advanced, several things have been developed that people have started using or can start using. Among the things that have been developed using nanotechnology are sunscreens (the powder that cricketers wear with white paint on their faces and are quite a terrifying sight!).
Glass that cleans itself, clothes that won't wrinkle, tennis balls that won't let air out. L, C, D, monitor, computer microprocessor or capacitor. Apart from the things mentioned above, another amazing thing created with nano technology is called nano fiber. This is happening. A type of tube made of carbon atoms, which may be only a few nanometers in diameter but can range from a meter or two to kilometers in length. If a rope could be made from these fine fibers it would be a hundred times stronger than steel but weigh only one-sixth as much. It is needless to say that such an extraordinary fiber, which is light in weight but hundred times stronger than any known material, can be used in many ways, for example tennis rackets, It can also be said about the body of a car or the fuselage of a plane. But the most fascinating thing to talk about is still part science and part science fiction.
Humans have been curious about space since they were born. Only in the last few decades have humans been able to fly into space for the first time, untethered from Earth's gravity. The technology used to get humans into space so far is very expensive. It has been calculated that the cost of sending something into space is about ten to fifteen thousand dollars per kilogram - which is about the price of gold. Therefore, even if the technology in space is within the control of people, it is still beyond the reach of ordinary people. Scientists and science fiction scientists have long wondered how ordinary people could go into space, and both groups agree that it is possible with a space elevator.
It is very easy to explain - we use elevators to climb high walls, just like that there will be an elevator about thirty five thousand kilometers high and space travelers will go up into space in that elevator! I know most readers are furrowing their brows and saying, “An elevator thirty-five thousand kilometers high? Six times the radius of the earth?” Admittedly, it's more reasonable to call it science fiction at this point – but it wouldn't be science fiction if it turned out that no technology on earth could make such an elevator! A space station tethered to the Earth rotates with the Earth – the strong 'rope' needed to make this possible was not there before, only carbon fibers or carbon nanotubes created using nanotechnology to hold the space station together with this tremendous force.
can Building such a space station in the future is no longer science fiction. If it is really possible to build this space elevator then the cost of going to space will be only ten per kg. Dollars – common people too. Can take that opportunity easily! New technology always creates new fears. A few days ago, when the Large Hadron Collider started operations, some people created a panic around the world. The energy produced in this collider will create a black hole and that black hole will swallow the whole world.
The fear went to such an extent that a teenage girl in India could not bear it anymore and committed suicide. Such fears are unfounded because scientists always think about the potential dangers of a new technology before starting to work on it. They are never irresponsible enough to create a catastrophe in the whole world with their own hands. Therefore, there are also thoughts about the dangers of nanotechnology. As very small in our body, It is a very acceptable hazard to cause bodily harm by entering the bloodstream and reaching the brain.
But the danger that is startling is this: Nano-technology will be created at one stage of nano-robots, they will make themselves and be used in technology. If all of a sudden those nano-robots went beyond human control and started creating themselves – destroying everything on Earth and just creating themselves, then there would be no living beings left on this planet. It may seem like a lifeless world, but in fact it will be ruled by billions of nano robots! Scientists have imagined such but it is only imagination! Lest anyone lose sleep over it, there are other reasons to be genuinely pessimistic about technology.
They will be used in self-made technology. If all of a sudden those nano-robots went beyond human control and started creating themselves – destroying everything on Earth and just creating themselves, then there would be no living beings left on this planet. It may seem like a lifeless world, but in fact it will be ruled by billions of nano robots! Scientists have imagined such but it is only imagination! Lest anyone lose sleep over it, there are other reasons to be genuinely pessimistic about technology.
They will be used in self-made technology. If all of a sudden those nano-robots went beyond human control and started creating themselves – destroying everything on Earth and just creating themselves, then there would be no living beings left on this planet. It may seem like a lifeless world, but in fact it will be ruled by billions of nano robots! Scientists have imagined such but it is only imagination! Lest anyone lose sleep over it, there are other reasons to be genuinely pessimistic about technology.
