Nanotechnology is small…I think we all know that, but if you want to know how nanotechnology works, and the different products you might be using today, that are made with this technology, read on!  It is highly likely that this technology will influence and deeply penetrate every major industry, science discipline and many different companies and careers as well over the next 10 or 20 years.  In fact, the impact it might have on our future will permeate most everything we do, it’s just a matter of time before everything is using some type of nanotechnology.  Medical technology is currently using this technology but not even scratching the surface of what they can use it for.  If you are looking to buy a nanotechnology stock, there are a few companies now that employ the technology, but none are purely focused on this. Manufacturing will use it extensively; space exploration will use it in most every applications.  Now just to give you an idea of what the word means, it comes from nanometer which to understand it, is one-billionth of a meter.  To break this down into something we understand, a pinhead is about 1 millimeter across (on the top of the pin), in nanometers, its width is one million nanometers. As manufacturing processes get more complex, we will be able to see how nanotechnology works with this to produce these new products.

In fact some people predict that it will have more of an impact in our lives than the Industrial Revolution of the19th century had on the world.  Nanotechnology is still relatively new and the ability to integrate it into our products and manufacturing is really just starting and will gain momentum in the coming years.  The first real experiments were done back in 1990 in which xenon atoms were placed in a layer on top of a nickel substrate, which was all done to create a new logo for a popular computer company.  Today there are many uses of how nanotechnology works, one of which is the application of nano particles in sunscreen which creates a smoother application of the zinc oxide, older sunscreens contained larger particles which would be visible to the eye and not blend into the skin so easily.

If we are to look at the manufacturing sector, we will see that nanotechnology allows us to construct machines down at the molecular level. And to view the potential applications of how nanotechnology works, we can now understand that these tiny machines can actually make smaller products, chips for our computer, motors that work in all of our electronic devices, kitchen appliances and the list goes on.  In fact, some tiny nanotech machines will be embedded in the surface of most anything, and when there is scratch or damage to the surface of the product, the tiny nano machines go to work to repair the surface right away.  We are all familiar with the antibacterial bandages you can now buy in the store, well by understanding how nanotechnology works with the silver ions that will block the microbes’ cellular structure from replicating these are then designed to promote the healing of the skin or wound.

Another application that exists today is the process in which clothing is embedded with nano particles that are coated with zinc oxide that acts as a sunscreen, built into the fabric.  This is a good example of how nanotechnology works…a new product that is now available in certain countries in the world is a self cleaning glass which is manufactured by Pilkington in the UK.  It’s called Active and it actually will clean the glass by breaking down the organic molecules, otherwise known as dirt, down so they cannot adhere to each other and the glass.  This is activated and done by the sunlight, and then once the rain hits the glass, the nanotechnology makes the water spread evenly across the glass so in effect it washes the dirt down and off the pane, instead of running down in individual droplets!

Batteries, microchips, cleaners, chemicals, motors, paint finishes, clothing, the delivery of medicines and many other applications are just a few of what we have now.  There are still a number of unknowns and even though we know how nanotechnology works, we need to proceed with caution, for example since we are dealing with the molecular level, we don’t know the impact that quantum mechanics can have down at the nanoscale.  Thus it will be a trial and error period still until we have found the exact methodology to proceed forward.  One thing remains certain though, and that is that we know how nanotechnology works for the most part, and we have an idea of what it can do for use right now, but the big unknown is what discovery we will make with it that will radically change our lives.

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