1 What do you happen to know about nanotechnology?
What does the word “nano” mean? From what sources
have you taken the information?
2 What field of science does nanotechnology belong to?
What problems which people are facing today may
nanotechnology help solve?
3 Read the text.
Nanotechnology
Manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamonds. If we rearrange the atoms in sand and add a few other elements we can make computer chips.
You can put the LEGO blocks into great heaps and pile them up, but you can’t really snap them together the way you’d like. With nanotechnology we will be able to snap together the fundamental building blocks of nature easily, inexpensively and in most of the ways permitted by the laws of physics. This will be essential if we continue the revolution in computer hardware and also let us fabricate a new generation of products that are cleaner, stronger, lighter, and more precise.
It is worth pointing out that the word “nanotechnology” has become very popular and is used to describe many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are less than about 1,000 nanometers.
There are two concepts commonly associated with nanotechnology: positional assembly and massive parallelism
Positional assembly implies an interest in molecular robotics, e.g. robotic devices that are molecular both in size and precision. It is frequently used in macroscopic manufacturing today, and provides great advantages. Massive parallelism is considered as some form of convergent assembly. In this process vast numbers of small parts are assembled by vast numbers of small robotic arms into larger parts, those larger parts are assembled by larger robotic arms into still larger parts, and so forth.
1 Agree or disagree with the statements:
a) It is not easy to rearrange atoms.
b) Coal and diamond are related.
c) Nanotechnology might lead us to a new quality of living we have never had before.
d) Precision is not so important in nanotechnology.
2 Answer the questions:
a) What do properties of the products depend on?
b) Why is it necessary to rearrange atoms?
c) What do the LEGO blocks have in common with nanotechnology?
d) Can you explain what molecular robotics is?
e) What is your idea of the two concepts of nanotechnology?