Do you think 1 (one) millimeter is small? Just imagine, the head of a needle is 1 millimeter (as what I've read), but 1 millimeter is equal to 1,000,000 nanometer! And a device can only be considered a product of nanotechnology if its size is less than 100 nanometer. That's the technology I'm talking about. And well, that's what is small!
When K. Eric Drexler popularized the word 'nanotechnology' in the 1980's, he was talking about building machines on the scale of molecules.
As I hear the word nanotechnology, I was thinking about new and modern technology. Doing the impossible, possible. Building an atomic detailed gear is just insane. How did those guys do that? Is it possible to also build a future machine out of atoms? Are those machines useful even though we are too big for them? I think nanotech is the "small but terrible" kind of technology.
Nanosystems can be molecular in design or atomic designed systems or structures. It can be used in foods, battery, sunscreen, clothing, swimming pool cleaners, and many many more. I think it could dominate the things of our everyday living.
A company called Pilkington even produced a product they call Activ Glass, which uses nanoparticles to make the glass photocatalytic and hydrophilic. The photocatalytic effect means that when UV radiation from light hits the glass, nanoparticles become energized and begin to break down and loosen organic molecules on the glass (in other words, dirt). Hydrophilic means that when water makes contact with the glass, it spreads across the glass evenly, which helps wash the glass clean. - In short, Activ Glass is a Self-cleaning glass. This is just an example of a nanomaterial. Just imagine what nanotech could do in the coming days. Maybe a factory of nanomaterials in the future.
Nanotech is indeed useful because like other technology, it makes everyday life easier. But it develops the past technologies and makes the easier more easier, and the comfortable more comfortable.
But like many new technologies, there are also many issues against nanotechnology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their effects on global economy, and some even speculate about the 'end of the world' scenario. Because of these, it is still questionable if the regulation of nanotechnology is allowed.
There is a vast fields of science and technology that nanotech can relate with. A lot of different things could be discovered with the help of this kind of technology. Let's just hope that the inventors/scientists would use it for the common good and for the benefit of the whole planet. A technology that could change the world and save the planet and everything in it from being destroyed by whatever means it would be, is what we are hoping for.
Nanotech, this is all I can say.
