Nanotechnology, or Nanotech, is a field of science that seeks to manipulate matter on the nanoscale, at the atomic and molecular level. A nanometer is just one billionth of a meter, with atoms coming in at less than one nanometer. Imagine something that is more than a million times smaller than a single grain of rice and then imagine manipulating that thing to create new products and solve some of the most pressing problems facing us in the 21st century. This is the world of nanotechnology.
Matter, whether in liquid, gas or solid form, can display some unusual chemical, physical and biological properties when manipulated at the nanoscale, often vastly different to how those same materials behave when encountered in bulk. Nanomaterial’s can have different conductivity properties, magnetism, physical strength or light absorption, as well as other differences, than the same material in other forms.
Nanotechnology is often referred to as an all purpose technology. This is because it has the potential to have significant positive impact across all industries and across the whole of our society. It is not unrealistic to compare its possible influence on our society to that of electricity. It will enable stronger, more flexible, longer lasting, better built, smarter and safer products for work and for home, for communications, medicine, energy, transportation, agriculture and for industry and life in general.
Imagine a medical device that travels through the human body to seek out and destroy small clusters of cancerous cells before they can spread. Or a box no larger than a sugar cube that contains the entire contents of the Library of Congress. Or materials much lighter than steel that possess ten times as much strength. — U.S. National Science Foundation |