Sunday, November 24, 2013

Week8 Assignment: NanoScience&Art

This week's topic is nanoscience and art. Since our professor has been working on it for over ten years, we had a very detailed, comprehensive lecture about this subject. We started with the scaling of nanoscience, which is measured by nanometer(10^-9 meter). Like we learned in physics class, when an object reduce to the size of nanometer, the Newtonian laws are no longer effective; instead, scientists find quantum mechanism apply to that scale. Inspired by Richard Feynman, precedents in this promising subject found the deterministic feature of quantum objects, which explored the large potential for scientists later to work on. In the lecture, professor Gimzewski gave a very specific introduction of nanotechnology in many aspects, such as the allotropes of Carbon, the Scanning Tunnel Microscope invented by Gerd Binning and  Heinrich Rohrer, and the application of this method that changes the physical property of a molecule in nanoscale level. However, since our focus should be on the interaction with art, I'd like not to discuss too much about it.
I realized human beings have been using nano-particles for a very long time. The Lycurgus Cup, probably made in Rome in 4th century AD, exhibited different colors under different conditions. Known as dichroic, the glass contains nano-sized gold and silver that display red and green when light passes from different direction, respectively.
The Lycurgus Cup

Another amazing feature of nano-particles is the self-organization and self-assembly. As we acquired the technology to manipulate nano-particles and concluded the quantum laws of it. Several objects Belousov Zhabotinsky reaction. It is an classical example of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and displays perfect harmony of motion and stability. Resulting in the Oscillating Chemical reactions, the particles are reacting with each other back and forth in a very long time, therefore creates such effect.
Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction
The Marangoni effect is another example, which is less complex but display similar feature. Due to the surface tension gradient, two fluids are transferring up and down, which creates the visual effect of "tears" of wine in the case of alcohol and water. Besides, I found a very interesting experiment using Marangoni effect that creates a soap propelled boat.

The Marangoni Effect: How to make a soap propelled boat!

Work Cited
"Belousov–Zhabotinsky Reaction." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belousov–Zhabotinsky_reaction>.

Gates, Sara. "Lycurgus Cup." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/27/lycurgus-cup-ancient-romans-nanotechnology_n_3818512.html>.

"Marangoni Effect." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marangoni_effect>.

"The Scanning Tunneling Microscope." The Scanning Tunneling Microscope. Nobel Media AB 2013, 1986. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/physics/microscopes/scanning/>.

Zhabotinsky, Anatol M. "Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction." Scholarpedia. Scholarpedia, 11 Sept. 2007. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Belousov-Zhabotinsky_reaction>.


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5 comments:

  1. nickmlermanNovember 24, 2013 at 7:01 PM

    Hey Rui! I really liked this week's topic myself! I also thought it was really amazing that we've been using nanotechnology all this time without even knowing it. Before when I use to hear nanotechnology I would think tiny little robots that can come into your body and control your brain, but now I actually understand. hahaha. What I found really interesting though is that the actual laws of nature change at that size, which I didn't really think was possible. Check out my blog and let me know what you think as well!

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    Replies
    1. Larry LiNovember 24, 2013 at 8:53 PM

      Yeah, a lot of scientists are trying to build a general physics law that explain motion in any size and any status. Maybe one day we can see it!

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  2. AnonymousNovember 24, 2013 at 8:09 PM

    Hello
    The picture of Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction looks quite similar to the shrimp slice put upon Japanese Noodles.lol

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  3. UnknownDecember 2, 2013 at 10:09 PM

    Your post is very interesting although the introduction is a little bit long. I like the way you organized the lecture and expanded into outside resources. The video gives me the most impression, which the Marangoni Effect can let small boat floated on the water and let pepper get away from the soap toothpick. Although it looks like a physics experiment, it actually related to true arts and that's how we have realized from the lecture.

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