Transcript Nanotechnology, Fact or Myth?

Nanotechnology
Fact or Myth?
FactFACT
or Myth?
1. There are currently biological nano-machines
that naturally exist in your body.
Viruses are nano-sized biological
machines that currently exist
inside the body. Viruses can selfreplicate within a cell, which
means that virus parts
spontaneously come together to
create new viruses.
Influenza virus particle
FactFACT
or Myth?
2. Tiny nanotweezers can be used to pick up
nanometer-sized molecules and move them
around to build different structures.
True, but a major challenge is the
stickiness of materials at the
nanoscale. Many materials adhere
to the tweezers and refuse to be
released. Picking up is easy, but
putting down is difficult.
FactFACT
or Myth?
3. Gold nano-sized balls can be injected into the
body to kill cancer cells.
Tiny gold capsules, a few
nanometers in diameter, are
coated with antibodies. The
capsules adhere to a tumor. As the
capsules are irradiated with a
laser, the gold heats up,
destroying the tumor while leaving
the surrounding healthy tissue
unharmed.
FactMYTH
or Myth?
4. Engineers have created a nano-sized car that
has four doors, tires, and tiny seats and can
move around freely.
Engineers have made a car with
wheels made of buckyballs and a
chassis and axle made of organic
molecules that can move. The car
is 4 nanometers across. It does
not have doors, tires, or seats.
Buckyball image
FactFACT
or Myth?
5. There are clothes that do not stain due to
nanotechnology. You can spill juice on your
nanopants and the juice just rolls off.
Textile chemical engineers can
treat fabric with a special process
to alter the fabric’s properties at
the nanoscale. The fabric resists
stains and repels spills.
Future of Fabric
FactFACT
or Myth?
6. Through nanotechnology, ice cream is being
made that is lower in fat and healthier for you.
Using nanotechnology in ice
cream has created a tighter matrix
in the ice cream that results in
smaller ice crystals. This makes a
smoother and creamier ice cream
that is lower in fat.
FactMYTH
or Myth?
7. NASA plans to build a space elevator that would
use carbon nanotubes to move materials from
Earth to outer space.
Liftport, a space-infrastructure
company, supports construction of
a space elevator. The concept
includes long thin cables made of
carbon nanotubes anchored to a
platform at sea that, with the help
of robots, would move materials to
outer space.
FactFACT
or Myth?
8. Wilson Double Core Tennis Balls last longer
because a thin layer of nanocoating is applied to
the rubber lining.
Nanolok™ is applied via a roll, dip,
or spray coating process onto a
rubber substrate. Once dry, a thin
coating (10-30 microns) of
Nanolok™ forms on the substrate.
A thin layer of Nanolok™ on the
inner rubber lining of these balls
increases air retention compared
to the uncoated rubber.
FactFACT
or Myth?
9. Self-cleaning toilets are now available. These
toilets are made with nanotechnology that keeps
the porcelain clean.
CeFIONtect, Ceramic Fine Ion
Technology, is a ceramic glaze
that prevents waste particles,
bacteria, or mold from attaching to
a surface. This permanent stainresistant surface lasts as long as
the product is in use.
FactMYTH
or Myth?
10. Through nanotechnology, steaks can be made
atom-by-atom such that cows are no longer
needed to produce the meat.
Currently there is no way to make
complex proteins like those found
in steak. Food chemists are
looking at new food additives and
ways to keep food from spoiling
through nanotechnology.
Image Resources
Microsoft, Inc. (2009). Clip Art. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx