X-Message-Number: 4551 Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 12:38:50 -0700 From: John K Clark <> Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Nanotechnology progress -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Two important and independent advances in nanotechnology were announced this week: 1) Carbon tubes of nanometer diameter have been around for about 4 years, but until now nobody could do much with them. In the current issue of Nature it's reported that molten vanadium oxide can form a coating on the carbon tubes, the carbon can then be dissolved away using conventional chemical techniques leaving pure vanadium oxide tubes of nanometer diameter. Unlike carbon, vanadium oxide is active optically and so can be used as an optical switch in a super fast computer. Also vanadium oxide is a powerful catalyst for many chemical reactions so it might be possible to use the tiny tubes as molds for all sorts of different materials. 2) Moving atoms around with a scanning tunneling microscope is, of course, old hat but it has not been possible to break individual chemical bonds between atoms, until now. In the June 16 issue of Science it's shown that if electrons of the correct energy are shot at an atom from the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope the atom will resonate and the resulting vibration will break the chemical bond . We can now do chemistry, and not just physics on atoms one at a time. The procedure is somewhat faster than expected and does not require any exotic conditions such as very low temperature. J.W.Lyding, one of the authors of this report, is quoted as saying " We'd like to make small, electronic devices on the nanometer scale". John K Clark -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.i iQCzAgUBL+25QH03wfSpid95AQFa/gTvVpJOwKfbyxahQNXEjv//KAPYXU4ddit7 6MRaHo+uQMdL3XGexoY2Jhul8GuYQjmZ2Pwmd6qAIheq1RP4i9yabjRXGJ4LrL1e B5J+XOUPGgzEKBi7EFQiXgiFOYuGSB94XDQBe1frTosbDKo6PYIdMPQwb9SWWgvE VMTGiP2suQnASOIayZC54+Z+6jyUzwbLeaOmKDLnYMRs3Gi2vAc= =QayB -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4551