Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Physics of the Future Chapter 4 : Nanotechnology

Okay so today I am reviewing chapter four of Michio Kaku's Physics of the Future(ISBN 978-0-385-53080-4), and the topic is Nanotechnology. He says an atom is largely empty with only a small grain of sand being a nucleus if an atom was a football field. That should mean we could pass through a wall in theory. In reality our bodies will "Touch" the wall. This is because your finger actually will repel the wall at a nano scale. So what we feel and touch is really repelling away from us slightly. Same thing happens to a couch. When you sit on it, you are actually hovering a few nanometers above it. When atoms get too close to each other, they will repel, or in the case of elements like sodium and chlorine, bond to make a compound molecule, NaCl, Salt. This supports what is known as the quantum theory. So the quantum theory tells you why atoms can combine to create compounds rather than actually breaking up into tinier chunks, and disintegrating. Nanotechnology is as you probably already know robotics and scientific technology in a small nano sized particle. This technology can be used to destroy cancer cells specifically from the inside of someone's body. This technology could remove surgery that involves with cutting skin and flesh from the outside.



One of nanotechnologies greatest advantages is carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are as you can probably infer, carbon atoms in a tightly packed tube. The structure of a carbon nanotube makes it even stronger than a diamond.  Many scientists have claimed that the technology now known as carbon nanotubes will replace steel in structures, and silicon in computers. One reason for that is because unlike silicon it can easily resist high amounts of heat and can introduce parallel processing. Our brain works on a system of parallel processing. Information is broken into small chunks and processed at different areas at the same time, allowing a thought to be quick, fast, and proper. With carbon nanotubes, such a computer is possible. These computers are called quantum computers, for their better quality in processing. Evolving of our brain has allowed us to get better and better over a few million years, but computers only have and probably only need few decades to adapt to this technology. This means a robot or a computer will be one step closer to being like a human. Another type of computer being made thanks to nanotechnology is DNA computers.l Using a artificial DNA structure for better memory and storage of info, data will be processed in DNA codes, like our brain and body processes it. This will make robots and computers even more closer to being like a human. This technologies will only be perfect by at least 2060 or 2070 at least.

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