Nano girl - Nanotechnology in everyday living
May I invite you to ask the Nanogirl, Dr. Michelle Dickinson, any science question by tweeting your question to her @medickinson
May I also invite you to surf her website: https://www.medickinson.com
Dr. Michelle Dickinson contributes a regular article every Saturday to the NZ Herald’s Weekend Herald.
Perhaps as a form of introduction to Nanotechnology, let us watch Mitchelle Dickinson in this video:
Nanotechnology is an area of science that is still evolving and therefore a definition of this term has yet to be resolved by experts in this field. Suffice it to say that the word “nano” indicates that the field deals with very small matters, larger that an atom but much smaller than a ‘full stop sign’ on paper, on an ‘Ariel 1’ font size. A possible agreed definition of nanotechnology, according to Google search is:
“the study and the use of structures between 1 nanometer (nm) and 100 nanometers in size.
Another popular comparison of the size of a nanometer is that we can fit 80,000 nanometers in the width of a single human hair.
Nanotechnology is stated to have a tremendously impact on the way we live in the near future.
Some of the areas in which nanotechnology applications are currently affecting our lives can be found at the website: http://www.understandingnano.com/nanotech-applications.html
Let me quote a few application examples from this website.
Nanotechnology Applications in Medicine
Researchers are developing customized nanoparticles the size of molecules that can deliver drugs directly to diseased cells in our body. When it’s perfected, this method should greatly reduce the damage treatment such as chemotherapy does to a patient’s healthy cells.
Nanotechnology Application in Electronics
Nanotechnology holds some answers for how we might increase the capabilities of electronics devices while we reduce their weight and power consumption.
Nanotechnology Applications in Food
Nanotechnology is having an impact on several aspects of food science, from how food is grown to how it is packaged. Companies are developing nanomaterials that will make a difference not only in the taste of food, but also in food safety and the health benefits that food delivers.
Nanotechnology Applications in Better Air Quality
Nanotechnology can improve the performance of catalysts used to transform vapors escaping from cars or industrial plants into harmless gasses. This is because catalysts made from nanoparticles have a greater surface area to interact with the reacting chemicals than catalysts made from larger particles. The larger surface area allows more chemicals to interact with the catalyst simultaneously, which makes the catalyst more effective.
Nanotechnology Application in Cleaner Water
Nanotechnology is being used to develop solutions to three very different problems in water quality. One challenge is the removal of industrial wastes, such as a cleaning solvent called TCE (trichloroethylene) from groundwater. Nanoparticles can be used to convert the contaminating chemical through a chemical reaction to make it harmless. Studies have shown that this method can be used successfully to reach contaminants dispersed in underground ponds and at much lower cost than methods which require pumping the water out of the ground for treatment.