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Unit 6
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Unit 6

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?

3 Give synonyms of the words below:

vast, dimensions, frequently, essential, concept, permit.

4 Share your views on the future of nanotechnology.  



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