Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
inspired researchers such as Bahareh Behkam and Metin Sitti in the
NanoRobotics Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. These scientists have attached 0.0004-inch (0.001-cm)
plastic beads to flagellating bacteria. The bacteria haul the beads like
horses pulling a chariot, controlled by the addition of chemicals to turn
the flagellum on or off. The research was reported in “Bacterial Flagella-
Based Propulsion and On/Off Motion Control of Microscale Objects,”
published in
Applied Physics Letters
in 2007.
The notion of miniature robots swooping down and obliterating a
misbehaving cell may seem fantastic—rather like the science-fiction film
Fantastic Voyage,
mentioned earlier in the chapter—but it is a feasible
goal. Nanotechnology has received a lot of publicity, including portrayals
in movies that have fired the imagination of scientists and engineers, as
well as being the subject of many topics—the list in the Further Resources
section of this chapter is just a sample of what has been published. This
field of research may find it difficult to live up to such high expectations.
But nanotechnology is a frontier of science that has been making impres-
sive strides, and it promises much more to come.
CHronology
ca. 00
b
.
c
.
e
.
Greek philosopher Democritus (ca. 460-370 b.c.e.)
proposes the theory that matter consists of tiny, in-
divisible atoms.
10s
Dutch craftsman and scientist Antoni van Leeu-
wenhoek (1632-1723) manufactures high-quality
microscopes and discovers bacteria and other small-
scale creatures and objects.
10
c
.
e
.
British chemist John Dalton (1766-1844) intro-
duces the modern concept of atoms as one of the
principles of chemistry and physics.
1
British scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) ex-
periments with colloidal gold—a suspension of
extremely small gold particles in a liquid. These
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