Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
hello and welcome to this national science foundation video on nano
technology
in the next ten years some scientists hope to develop atoms or molecules that
assemble themselves into microscopic structures tissue engineering inside the
human body to rebuild damaged spinal cord parts and other organs improve long
life batteries to drive electric vehicles long distances more efficient
less expensive solar energy
better performing aircraft made out of stronger and lighter materials and other
inventions we cannot even dream of today
all because of the new
science nanotechnology
science is all about studying our world and learning how it works
often scientists can use what they discover to make our lives better
right now a lot of scientists are really excited about this new science of
nanotechnology
the study in control of atoms and molecules
scientists study things that are nanoscale in size
that's another new word to learn
nanoscale means that things are very very small
but how small
well this dime it's pretty small
and if i could become smaller to dance in this dime
i would still be a whole lot larger than a nano particle
to get that small i would need to shrink down to fit inside the molecules that
make up the dime
things down here in a nanoscale are measured in nanometers
but we don't need to be that tiny ourselves to study nanotechnology or
make it work for us
a nanometer is one
billion of a meter 0:01:55.130,0:01:57.370okay here is a different way to picture that
imagine you have strings that are all each one nanometer thick now
imagine you take one hundred thousand of those nanometer strings and
bundle them together
the bundle just fits inside one strand of your hair
uh... well
you can look at one of your hair s0:02:15.579,0:02:19.209 scientists work with materials that are between one nanometer and one
hundred nanometers in size
that's still amazingly small
but scientists don't just study nanomaterials because they're small
they want to make nanomaterials
do useful work for us
that's possible because when ordinary materials get down to the0:02:35.499,0:02:36.889 nanometer scale
they start to act differently
and each time the particle size changes the behavior changes again
that multiplies the number of uses we can get from each material that exists
in the world so instead of just dis covering materials in nature we can
design them to have selected properties
researchers are studying these different properties of nanomaterials and looking
for ways to use them in biology
chemistry
physics
medicine
electronics and many other sciences to make our lives better
scientists predicted that in the future nanotechnology could be used to
help broken bones heal quicker
make faster and more powerful computers
build stronger buildings of the new nanomaterials
extract pure water energy and minerals from dirty water
cleanup oil spills
and do many other amazing things that we cannot even imagine yet
many scientists believe nanotechnology might help us to solve a lot
of the world's problems
for example one problem is the need for more and more energy
the next forty years scientists predict the world will need twice as much energy
as we use now
some of our energiy is produced by burning coal or oil which has a limited
supply and pollutes the environment
what if we could find a way to make energy that is abundant low-cost and
good for the environment
we all might have learned in science class that plants use sunlight to
convert carbon dioxide into fuel in a process called photosynthesis
now what we could do the same thing
did you know that more energy from the sun strikes the earth in one our
than all of us can use in a whole year
well that's what doctor Jeff Brinker said
at a recent nanotechnology conference
in other areas got a lot of attention is photosynthesis photosynthesis is
wonderful in that it converts the photo energy directly to fuel
it's a blueprint for sustainable energy but photosynthesis ia a system so
the nanostructure analogs 0:04:44.080,0:04:48.689or the synthetic analogs have to be now systems of nanostructures
doctor Brinker was in a nano technology conference of two thousand
ten in Washington D_C_
where researchers gathered together to talk about the progress they've made
and what they hope to develop in the future
at the same conference doctor Mark Hersam talked about new high-performance
nanomaterials
if you look at advanstar
aerospace they are many places where nano is going to be emergin one example willd
be in hydrophibic coatings found of the airplane wings uh... thermal barrier
coatings
transparent electronics to be integrated into the windshield for
displays
you could see how excited the scientists are about their work
that's because nanotechnology has created new opportunities for research
and because nanotechnology is so new and there are so many applications to
explore
there'll be a need for a lot ofnanoscientists for many many years in
the future
nanotechnology it's a small world with room for a lot of research
you might even decide to become one of the scientists explorers discover great
new nanotechnology applications that help people live better
all you need is curiosity
force studying math and science 0:06:01.919,0:06:03.289the nano world will be waiting for you.