Nanotechnology Demystified Introduction

Have you noticed how technology has gotten smaller and smaller over the years? What if I told you it’s going to get even smaller than it already is? With nanotechnology an emerging technological field that deals with the manipulation of matter at an atomic or molecular scale; we can expect devices to become much tinier and more fascinating.

What exactly is nanotechnology? Well, it is a broad subject that merges physics, chemistry, and biology together because it explores messing with substances in their most basic form. It is concerned only with matter in the nanoscale that is from 1 to 100 nanometers.

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter: in fact, a nanometer is a thousand times more minute than a strand of hair; and at this level; matter exhibits strange properties that they wouldn’t demonstrate on a macromolecular level. Nanotech exploits these special effects and utilizes them to accomplish remarkable feats across various fields; for example in the medical arena; nanomaterials that can efficiently deliver drugs are being created. Furthermore, doctors can more accurately monitor specific cells with advanced nanobots that probe the human body pinpointing their specific area of interest. In the world of electronics, we see the militarization of devices as smaller components are being built based on this revolutionary innovation.

The term nanotechnology was first coined by Norio Taniguchi; although the concept of nanotechnology had been around long before he utilized it in 1974; most especially because of Richard Feynman who gave a special lecture on it and explored some of its implications in his talk “There’s Plenty of Room At The Bottom”. Eric Drexler also contributed immensely to the emergence of this field through his theoretical and public work. The word nano from nanotechnology literally means small however nanotechnology is contrastingly a very wide field filled with a lot of mystery and wonder.