Buckymobile : Nano-Car
November 9th, 2005
Following on from my Buckypaper post a kinetic application for buckminsterfullerene is being developed Researchers at Rice University. Kinetic engineering at the smallest level has led to the construction of a one-molecule car, complete with working chassis, axles, and wheels! A car a little wider than a strand of DNA!
While other groups have created single molecules shaped like automobiles, these have moved by slipping and sliding across a surface. In contrast, the Rice University nanocar has carefully designed carbon-rich sections of the molecule that provide a pivoting suspension and freely rotating axles. Its wheels are hollow spheres composed entirely of buckminsterfullerene Carbon Atoms.
This means that the nanocar functions much like a real automobile, moving forward at an angle of 90 degrees to its axles as its wheels turn.
Entry Filed under: Devices, Kinetic, New Materials
1 Comment Add your own
1. i-eclectica.org » B&hellip | March 5th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
[...] Another way of looking at interactive architecture is to say that it adds the fourth dimensional element of time to the traditional three dimensional focus of architecture. Space changes over time, through events happening in it, events that are created by those inhabiting the space. The changes are mediated by objects or materials, e.g. interactive furniture, new substances capable of transforming how technology will be integrated into the built environment, or nano technology (such as the Buckymobile, a nano car). [...]
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