Physics:Nanoscopic scale
The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually cited as 1–100 nanometers (nm).[1] A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. The nanoscopic scale is (roughly speaking) a lower bound to the mesoscopic scale for most solids.
For technical purposes, the nanoscopic scale is the size at which fluctuations in the averaged properties (due to the motion and behavior of individual particles) begin to have a significant effect (often a few percent) on the behavior of a system, and must be taken into account in its analysis.[citation needed]
The nanoscopic scale is sometimes marked as the point where the properties of a material change; above this point, the properties of a material are caused by 'bulk' or 'volume' effects, namely which atoms are present, how they are bonded, and in what ratios. Below this point, the properties of a material change, and while the type of atoms present and their relative orientations are still important, 'surface area effects' (also referred to as quantum effects) become more apparent – these effects are due to the geometry of the material (how thick it is, how wide it is, etc.), which, at these low dimensions, can have a drastic effect on quantized states, and thus the properties of a material.
On October 8, 2014, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Eric Betzig, William Moerner and Stefan Hell for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy", which brings "optical microscopy into the nanodimension".[2][3][4] Super resolution imaging helped define the nanoscopic process of substrate presentation.
Nanoscale machines
The most complex nanoscale molecular machines are proteins found within cells, often in the form of multi-protein complexes.[5] Some biological machines are motor proteins, such as myosin, which is responsible for muscle contraction, kinesin, which moves cargo inside cells away from the nucleus along microtubules, and dynein, which moves cargo inside cells towards the nucleus and produces the axonemal beating of motile cilia and flagella. "In effect, the [motile cilium] is a nanomachine composed of perhaps over 600 proteins in molecular complexes, many of which also function independently as nanomachines."<ref name="Satir2008">{{cite journal
| last = Satir | first = Peter |author2=Søren T. Christensen | title = Structure and function of mammalian cilia | journal = Histochemistry and Cell Biology | volume = 129 | issue = 6 | pages = 687–93 | date = 2008-03-26 | doi = 10.1007/s00418-008-0416-9 | id = 1432-119X | pmid = 18365235
Nanotechnology
Nanomachines
Nanomedicine
See also
- Center for Probing the Nanoscale
- Center for Nanoscale Materials
References
- ↑ Hornyak, Gabor L. (2009). Fundamentals of Nanotechnology. Boca Raton, Florida: Taylor & Francis Group.
- ↑ Ritter, Karl; Rising, Malin (October 8, 2014). "2 Americans, 1 German win chemistry Nobel". AP News. http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141008/nobel-chemistry-e759dff699.html.
- ↑ Chang, Kenneth (October 8, 2014). "2 Americans and a German Are Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/science/nobel-prize-chemistry.html.
- ↑ Rincon, Paul (8 October 2014). "Microscope work wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29536525.
- ↑ Donald, Voet (2011). Biochemistry. Voet, Judith G. (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470570951. OCLC 690489261.
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