Nanocar redefines "subcompact"
You think your MINI is small? Or maybe the clown car at the circus? Think again, because researchers at Rice
University have succeeded in building a functional vehicle out of a single molecule.
At four nanometers long and three wide, the Nanocar has four independently rotating axles, built-in suspension, and
off-road style oversized wheels. To give you an idea of the scale here, each wheel is made up of just one atom. The car
rolls forward or backward across a nanoscale surface, its suspension absorbing atomic-scale steps and holes in the
surface.
A photon-powered internal motor has been developed and awaits integration with the nanocar to make the first powered
nanoscale vehicle. (And then you just know that enterprising grad students will organize nanocar races.)
Lots more at PCMag.com, including video of a
nanoscale traffic accident!
[Thanks for the tip, Robyn!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mark 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Wow.. that's cool.. but I'm left with the question of "how can this be applied to real cars humans can use??"
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md 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
http://www.foresight.org/nano/index.html
This site will give you a good backround on the technology. Currently, nanotech has few engineering applications in cars, but in a few years it could allow for much more accuracy in the design of vehicles, and greater precision during production, leading to better cars all around.
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G.P. Niers 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
@each wheel is made up of just one atom:
It doesn't look that way, it doesn't say so in the article either. It looks more like 50-60 atoms to me.
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Hank 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Why is my first thought of a 3rd grader pretending to have a flea circus in his hand? (you know, the old "hold his jacket" routine)
"No really. There's a car in my hand. You don't see it?"
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Slo-Mo-Shun 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
This could actually be very useful in a biological sense, if nanocomputers can be fitted, they can be injected into a human to ferry cruical hormones and cells to those people who lack the capabilities to do so themselves.
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Fabulo 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
now that's really automotive relevant news. In other comments, someone said: "don't sneeze"
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Eric L. 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
#3 is correct. One can clearly see multiple Van der Waals surfaces on each "wheel." Its a single molecule device, not a single atom device. Someone needs to review their chemistry.
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Keith 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
It's cool to think it could be used for something like spying... but that freaks me out too.
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Stuart Waterman 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
GP/Eric, You are both correct. Not sure what I was thinking, there. Thanks for straightening it out!
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cmonkey 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Each wheel is a buckyball, a.k.a. buckminsterfullerine, a.k.a. carbon-60, a molecule of 60 carbon atoms attached together in hexagon and pentagon shapes to form a sphere.
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Robyn Peterson 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Mark, these Nanocars can be used to build computer chips in a more precise manner. Since cars are full of chips, then the automotive industry will definitely benefit from this discovery (assuming it can be applied). Honda just gave these guys $50,000 to continue their research, too.
(Thanks for the pickup, Stuart!)
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Scott 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
It's comical to see people say "how will this apply to cars." Uh, how about more so than the combustion engine or the wheel?
When nano-tech gets going, it will hit BIG. It will be responsible for such feats as curing cancer and replacing fossil fuels completely. It's probably easier to think of what nano-tech *can't* do as opposed to what it *can* do.
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Cybrludite 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Well, that's one way of improving your average CAFE rating for your line of cars...
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dumpsterdiver 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
0-60? hp? (or should it be nano-hp?) ft/lbs? RWD? FWD? Displacement? I'll take one in microsuede blue.
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