Nanotechnology gives us the ability to make incredibly
small objects. Some of its methods came from microchip technology. Shapes are
printed on to the surface of silicon, which is then etched away to make
microscopic wheels or even micromotors. Other methods work with individual
atoms to make even smaller objects. Although it is not used much yet,
nanotechnology promises a future in which machines too small to see are part of
our everyday world.
In a few years’ time, silicon microengines
could replace laptop computer batteries. Liquid fuel burns inside the tiny
combustion chamber to spin a central rotor, which turns a generator. A tank of
fuel for the engine would weigh no more than a standard laptop battery, but
could power the computer for 10 times as long.
Scientists are already working on structures thousands of times
smaller than micromotors. To make them, they use atoms like builders use
bricks. One day they might be able to build robots as small as the cells that
make blood red.
Carbon atoms can form molecules shaped like tubes and also
ball-shaped molecules, known as buckyballs. Carbon nanotubes can be either electrical conductors
or insulators, and are 10 times stronger than steel. The biggest nanotubes are
only a millimetre or so long, but they are ideal for building microscopic
electrical machines.
