Week 8

Many of us don’t know that nanotechnology has an impact on almost everything ranging from agriculture to to electronics.  The word “nano” comes from the greek word meaning dwarf and in science it means a billionth of a meter. It is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale.  Richard Feyman a well known name in the history of nanotechnology, believed that on the atomic scale, we would have plenty of room to fit tiny things such as nanotechnology. In his lecture called “ There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” he talks about the possibility of direct manipulation of atoms as a strong way of synthetic chemistry during the time. He thought of ideas that would benefit people by reducing sizes of things such as the idea of the swallowing doctor, a tiny surgical robot that you would take orally.

                                                               http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02553/Feynman_2553738b.jpg 

Many of us don’t know it but long ago Romans were able to make use of nanoparticles and an example of this is found in a cup located in a British museum dating back to around 400 B.C. In daylight we see it as green however when it is illuminated inside it is red. The reason for this is the gold nanoparticles used on it. In fact, this was used on many pottery glazes during the 15^th and 16^th century in Italy. Today, nanoparticles of different properties can be found in almost anything. For example in many sportswear, silver nanoparticles can be found to help reduce bad odors  as well as prevent the build up of bacteria. As a tennis player, I just learned that nanoparticles are even used in tennis balls. Nanoclay is a type of sheet several nanometers thick that are put on tennis balls to reduce gas permeation and prolong the use of them.

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Although the use of nanotechnology has been mostly successful, there has been some contraversial issues of the uses of it. Some people say that while it has been quite successful for people, the truth is we don’t really know how beneficial it can be since there hasn’t been enough research on it. Silver nanoparticles that are found in our food, pass through our biological membranes and enter our cells can pose health risks in the future but as of right now were not completely sure how beneficial it may or may not be.

While nanoscience and nanotechnology may be fairly new in modern science, it has been used for hundreds of years and can be found in glass windows of medieval churches or pottery. Today, the popularity of nanotechnology has continued to grow and scientist are constantly looking for new ways to improve nanotechnology.

Works Cited

Bonsor, Kevin, and Jonathan Strickland. HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology4.htm>. 

"Nanotechnology: "The Next Big Controversy in Food"" Miami New Times. N.p., 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/nanotechnology-the-next-big-controversy-in-food-6607694>. 

"Richard Feynman Introduces the World to Nanotechnology with Two Seminal Lectures (1959 & 1984)." Open Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/richard_feynman_introduces_the_world_to_nanotechnology.html>. 

"Richard Feynman "Tiny Machines" Nanotechnology Lecture." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eRCygdW--c>. 

"What Is Nanotechnology?" What Is Nanotechnology? N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition>.