Nanotechnology, an Outstanding Role of Atom

Soure: Science Article by Kumar Pushkar, P.Darpan

Nanotechnology imitates the term umbrella which covers various areas of research dealing with object that are measured in nanometers. Nanometer (nm) is a billionth of a meter (10-9 metre) of a millimeter. Nanotechnology, simply, is the creation of functional materials, devices and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer scale.

To create things on nanometer scale, one has to be able to manipulate atoms individually. Atom is the smaller portion of an element that can take part in chemical reaction. So atoms are, undoubtedly, the building blocks of all matters in our universe. Nature has molecularly perfected the science of manufacturing matter. For instance, human bodies are assembled in a specific manner from millions of livingcells. Thus, cells become the nature’s nanomachines. Consumer goods that we by/use are made by pushing piles of together in an imprecise manner.

The challenge of nanotechnology is to place atoms precisely where we wish on a structure. Atoms and molecules stick together as they have complementary shapes that lock together, or changes that attract, i.e., a positively charged atom will stick to a negatively charged atom. As millions of these atoms are placed together by nanomachines, a specific product will begin to take shape. Some important steps to achieve nanotechnologically produced goods are as follows-

The goal of nanotechnology is to manipulate atoms individually and place them it in a pattern to a desired structure. Scientists must be able to manipulate individual atoms. This means that they will have to develop a technique to occupy single atom and move it on desired position. This process is repeated again and again. Similarly, 1990, IBM researchers showed that it is possible to manipulate single atom.  They arranged 35 xenon atoms on the surface of nickel crystal with the help of instrument atomic force microscopy. These arranged atoms spelled out the letters ‘IBM’.

Nanoscopic machine are called assembles which can be programmed to manipulate atoms and molecules at will. In order to build enough assemblers to manufacture consumer goods, some nanomachines, called replicators, will be programmed to build more assemblers.

Assemblers and replicators will work together automatically to construct different products and will eventually replace all traditional labour methods. With the help of synthetic chemical methods we can create synthetic molecular motors, as in a so-called nenocar. This will vastly decrease manufacturing costs, thereby making consumer goods
plentiful, stronger and cheaper.

Modern Research
The following avenues of research could be considered subfields of nanotechnology-
(1) Colloid science has eastablished various materials having unique properties which are useful in nanotechnology, e.g., carbon nanotubes and nanorods.
(2) Nanomedicines are being developed.
(3) The bottom-up approaches of nanotechnology seek to arrange smaller components into more complex assemblies. For example, DNA nanotechnology utilizes the specificity of Watson-Crick base-pairing to from well-defined structures out of DNA and other nucleic acids.
(4) Top-down approaches seek to establish smaller devices by using larger one to direct their assembly. For example: (i) technologies descended from conventional solid-state silicon method for fabricating microprocessors are now capable of forming features smaller than 10 2 nm. (ii) Solid-state techniques can also be used to build devices known as nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), which are related to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
(5) The functional approaches of nanotechnology seek to develop components of a desired functionality without regard to how they might be assembled. For example, molecular electronics seek to created molecules with useful electronic properties, which could than be used as singlemolecule component in a nanoelectrical devices like rotaxane.
(6) With the help of synthetic chemical methods we can create synthetic molecular motors, as in a so-called nanocar.

Tools and Techniques
The atomic force microscope(AFT) and the scanning tunneling microscope(STM) are the two early versions of scanning probes that launched nanotechnology. Marvin Minsky in 1961and Calvin Quate in 1970 discovered scanning confocal microscope(SCM) and scanning acoustic microscope(SAM) respectively. These two microscopes made possible to see structures at the nanoscale. This led to the development of various techniques of nanolithography such as dip pen nanolithography, electron beam lithography and nanoimprint lithography. John R. Arthur, Alfred Y. Cho and A.C. Gossard developed and implemented molecular beam epitaxy (BME) as a research tool. Samples made by MBE were the key to the discovery of the fractional ‘quantum fluid’ for which the 1998 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded. The winners of this Nobel Prize were (are) Robert B. Larghlin, Horst L. Stoemer and Daniel C. Tusi.

E=mc2 is Wrong - Einstein’s Special Relativity Fundamentally Flawed

By Mike Strauss

In 1905, Albert Einstein published ‘On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies’ now known as Special Relativity; this theory revolutionized geometry, math, physics, science and the classical perspective of the universe as understood since Newton’s time.  However, were there intrinsic errors in this theory?

 

Is Albert Einstein’s Special Relativity incompatible with the very equations upon which science’s greatest theory is built?  New observations made by many scientists and engineers appear to contradict the great German scientist’s ideas.  Apparently there are implicit contradictions present within Relativity’s foundational ideas, documents and equations.  One individual has even pointed that quotations from the 1905 document and Einstein’s contemporaries as well as interpretations of the Relativity equations clearly and concisely describe a confused and obviously erroneous theory.  It is time therefore, for science to update its thinking on this theory with a comprehensive analysis of the history leading up to, during and after that revolutionary year of Special Relativity.

 

As this is the 100 year anniversary of the original release of Special Relativity, a review of the original assumptions, documents and ideas which led to the acceptance of this theory is timely and warranted.  Every year millions of students are taught this theory without a critical analysis of Relativity.  Relativity Theory consists of its two variants Special Relativity and General Relativity and is considered the cornerstone of modern physics.

 

Albert Einstein borrowed from the ideas of Fitzgerald, Lorentz and Voigt to create a new concept of the universe.  His first work in this regard later came to be known as Special Relativity and contained many controversial ideas which today are considered axiomatic.  Amongst these are Length Contraction, Time Dilation, the Twin Paradox and the equivalence of mass and energy summarized in the equation E=mc2.

 

This equation became the shining capstone of the new theory along with its first & second postulates, namely, that the laws of nature are the same from all perspectives and that the speed of light ‘c’ is constant in a vacuum regardless of perspective.  Further, the theory also predicted an increase in mass with velocity.  Numerous examples have been given of the ‘proof’ of the validity of Special Relativity.

 

Most notably, experiments using particle accelerators have sped particles to incredible velocities which apparently provide confirmation of Einstein’s theory.  However, doubts remain in the scientific community who have never totally given up the comfort of a Newtonian world view.  This is readily apparent in that they refer to the Newton’s ‘Law’ of Gravitation whilst Special Relativity (SR) and General Relativity (GR) are given the polite attribution ‘The Theory of’ or simply SR ‘theory’ and GR ‘theory.’  Einstein would continue working on the ideas of Special Relativity until producing the aforementioned even more controversial treatise.

 

In his later more comprehensive work called the Theory of General Relativity (1916), Einstein proposed a major re-thinking of cosmology.  He conceived of a space time continuum that is curved by mass; in other words, planets, stars, galaxies and other stellar objects cause a curvature of space time.  The movement of these objects are determined by the aforementioned curvature.

 

As a result of these ideas, our understanding of geometry, math, physics, science and the universe would never be the same.  However, some scientists are reporting that speed of light is not constant from different experimental observations.  One has even reported errors in the fundamental equations.  If so, this would require a major rethinking of the known cosmological models and assumptions of modern physics.

Michael Strauss is an engineer who has an interest in this subject matter. To contact the author visit:  www.relativitycollapse.com

 

Mike Strauss

Michael Strauss is an engineer who has an interest in this subject matter. To contact the author visit: a href”http://www.relativitycollapse.com”www.relativitycollapse.com/a or a href”http://www.relativitycollapse.net”www.relativitycollapse.net/a

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Social Psychology: The Psychological Explanations of Social Phenomena

By Verena Veneeva

The various aspects of social psychology could be examined within the wide concepts of intelligence, gender, advertising, consumer culture, stress and psychological issues that define society. Considering consumer behaviour, social psychology uses convincing theories to explain addictive consumption, the influence of advertising and the phenomenon of purchasing. Advertising is seen as a subtle psychological manipulation as it creates desires and anxiety in the potential consumers (Papers4you.com, 2006). Advertising can have both psychological and commercial aspects including misattribution, bias, suggestibility, and could be studied from global or local perspectives. Organisational consumption is seen as different from individual consumption although generic psychological theories of human motivation such as that of Maslow and Freud can explain consumer behaviour. However consumer behaviour can also be studied in terms of the notion of quality and its relation to customer satisfaction (Silva et al, 2005). The objective measures of customer needs, pricing and expectations of the customers may have to be analysed within Service Quality or Expectations models. Hogg and Garrow (2003) highlighted on the psychological aspects of gender and the influence on consumption of advertising. Advertising has been found to be processed and interpreted differently according to gender schemas and perceptions. This would in turn relate to psychological theories of gender such as the theory of biological determinism, Freudian theory of personality development, cognitive-developmental theory, and feminist theories. Bridging the gap between gender studies and gender differences in consumption could provide us with new insights on social and psychological aspects of consumer behavior. Orth (2005) indicated that consumer behaviour largely depends on consumer personality and susceptibility to interpersonal influence, consumer situational disposition such as risk taking and curiosity, purchasing behaviour and purchasing frequency and demographic variables such as age and gender. Contemporary consumer culture could be studied in relation to an excessive emphasis on beauty and appearance and an obsession with youth, a phenomenon that has seen an increased dependence on cosmetic surgery. The increased importance of the body in the consumer culture could be studied along with the significance of appearance in modern society, the role of marketing and advertising images, and the psychological need for self-expression (Papers4you.com, 2006).

Social psychology is however focused not just on consumption and public attitudes on advertising, but also on group behaviour, general individual and collective attitudes towards various social issues including war, work, violence and quality of life. This would in turn explain how individuals deal with stress, and focus on the psychological consequences of stress. Although psychological disorders may in some cases be a direct result of social stress, deviant behaviour in society could be explained with the help of several theories such as the theory of subcultures by Parker, the structural strain theory by Merton, or the theory of conformity. Social psychology is thus focused on explaining a wide range of issues from advertising and consumer behavior to public attitudes on social issues and antisocial behaviour.

Bibliography

Hogg M.K.; Garrow J. (2003) Gender, identity and the consumption of advertising Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, June, pp. 160-174(15)

Orth, Ulrich R.(2005) Consumer personality and other factors in situational brand choice variation The Journal of Brand Management, Volume 13, Number 2, November, pp. 115-133(19)

Papers For You (2006) “P/M/510. Advertising: means of psychological manipulation”, Available from http://www.coursework4you.co.uk/sprtpsy3.htm 22/06/2006

Papers For You (2006) “P/M/646. Causes of addictive consumption in modern society”, Available from <a href=”http://www.coursework4you.co.uk/sprtpsy3.htm”>Papers4you.com</a> 21/06/2006

Silva Jr, Nelson da; Lírio, Daniel Rodrigues (2005) The postmodern re-codification of perversion: On the production of consumer behavior and its libidinal grammar International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Volume 14, Numbers 3-4, Number 3-4/December, pp. 217-223(7)

 

Verena Veneeva

Copyright © 2006 Verena Veneeva. Professional Writer working for http://www.coursework4you.co.uk

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