The Current State of Nanotechnology
By William Huang
Today, new technologies are constantly being created. These tech innovations play an enormous role in our modern-day lives. Everyday things, from the self-driving cars on the streets to the smartphones and laptops that we spend hours staring at, are all possible because of these immense contributions. With that being said, there is a form of technology that scientists are actively researching today that is being overlooked by many. Interestingly, this form of technology isn’t massive or flashy; rather, it is microscopic. In fact, it is tinier than the smallest organism in the world! It is known by most as nanotechnology.
You have probably seen nanotechnology in Hollywood. From Iron Man’s suit in Avengers: Infinity War to futuristic bots that can heal us in minutes. In reality, nanotechnology is everywhere around us. In fact, it has been around for a very long time. In the 1940s, electronic transistors and microchips became the foundation of modern nanotechnology. Today, applications of nanotechnology can be seen in every facet of life, from sunscreens and deodorants to smartphones and medicine.
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So what exactly is nanotechnology? Nanotechnology is defined as the creation of any application on the nanometre scale. A nanometer is one-billionth of a metre. The physical properties of matter, such as its melting point, become very different at those scales, so shrinking a device can drastically affect its performance. For example, a metal with a size of around ten nanometers can be as much as seven times harder and tougher than the same metal with a size around one hundred nanometers. This can be explained through quantum physics. According to quantum physics, the properties of a substance are determined by the average of all of the quantum forces acting upon the substance’s atoms. As a substance becomes smaller and smaller, these quantum forces have a greater impact on it, affecting the optical, electrical, and magnetic behavior of the material. With this ability, we have the opportunity to improve several areas of modern life.
Nanotechnology has had applications in many fields. Some of these advancements include making clothes more resistant to wrinkling, saving large amounts of fuel by making spacecraft lighter in weight, improving sunscreen so that it protects the user from the sun while remaining invisible on the skin, and the development of better imaging and diagnostic tools in the medical field. Furthermore, this is after only a total of 35 years of nanoscience research and development. In the near future, abilities like self-healing may be possible by changing the structure of materials at the atomic level.
As technology continues to grow in materials science, device engineering, and nanomedicine, I am excited to see how future scientists are able to apply nanotechnology to contribute to society and advance humanity.
Citations:
https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition
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