Physics: NanoTechnology and Zero Point Energy

Connections Through Time,   Issue 17: October - December  2002

...it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature. Nikola Tesla addressing the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1891

 

Carbon Nanotube technology can be used to create transistors and offers amazing possibilities to create future nanoelectronics devices, circuits, and computers. See Nasa Ref.

NanoTechnology refers to the controlled manipulation of materials at the atomic or molecular level.  The name comes from the length of a nanometer (nm) which is a billionth of a meter.  On this scale, the thickness of a human hair is huge - between 100,000 and 200,000 nm thick.  A typical virus is roughly 100 nm wide.  Atoms themselves are typically 0.1 to 0.5 nm wide.  Nanotechnology involves building "things" roughly in the range of 100 nm or less.

Nanotechnology was first discussed in 1959 by Richard Feyman, the famous Caltech physicist, in a talk at Caltech entitled, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics". 

The United States government, through its National Nanotechnology Initiative, has invested over $1 billion in this area since the year 2000 through 10 Departments and Agencies.  Additional nanotechnology funding is, of course, being provided by other governments and by many private companies.  Many believe that this field will become one of the biggest industries in our future - time will tell.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a new form of carbon, grown now by several techniques in the laboratory and is just a few nanometers (nm) in diameter and thousands of nm long. {1 nm = 1 billionth of a meter}

CNT exhibits extraordinary mechanical properties: It is stiff as diamond and has very high tensile strength. These properties are ideal for nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), including nano-gears and nano-transistors.  See Nasa Ref.

Currently, real world applications of nanotechnology include:

• The recent announcement by IBM concerning a 20 times increase in digital storage technology with storage densities of up to one trillion (10¹²) bits per square inch.
• Computer processor design work is being reported with molecular logic circuits.  Intel has demonstrated simple model processors using silicon just 20 nanometres in size.
• "Nano-sand" for purifying natural gas has been developed by researchers at the University of Texas.
• Nano zinc oxide, used to produce see-through sunscreen and other healthcare products.
• A company known as Nano-Tex is working with “molecularly engineered textiles” that, for example, minimize wrinkling, or absorb sweat particles and don’t release them until they come in contact with a detergent.  Hey, the practical goal here is to be able to wear the same clothes to go jogging for a week without offending anyone ;-)
• There is now a 20 nm "molecular propeller" that can be chemically turned on and off (Ref: Molecular wheel gets a brake).  This and many other approaches, including "nanobodies", are being used to explore medical applications of nanotechnology, i.e., nanomedicine.

As our ability to create nano-computers and nano-devices improves, we wonder if/how/when nanotechnology will be used to tap into the Zero Point Energy (ZPE) field.  The ZPE field, which arises from innate quantum fluctuations, contains an almost unlimited amount of potential energy that is built into the very fabric of space-time itself.  Can nanotechnology and ZPE be the answer to the energy crisis?  Can they be used to create a new efficient type of propulsion system for local travel and for exploring our universe?  Many people, companies, universities and governments believe that the answer is yes to these questions as illustrated by the following research/development:

• The first precise measurement testing the ZPE theory.  "Measurement of the Casimir force between conducting plates," by S. Lamorous reported in Physics Review Letters, 1997.  Additional measurements have been reported and a 2001 online paper is here.  
• The Energetic Vacuum: Implications For Energy Research
• "NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Workshop Proceedings," NASA/CP-1999-208694, Proceedings of a conference held at and sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland Ohio, August 12-14, 1997. (Jan. 99) (456 pg.)
• 2001 AIAA JPC BREAKTHROUGH PROPULSION PHYSICS CONFERENCE Here is a quote from a summary from this conference: "Techniques to magnify ZPF (Zero Point Field) effects using nanotechnology show promise. It may be possible to develop space drives and / or energy cells by combining these two technologies."
• Nasa applications of molecular nanotechnology

Practical Nanotechnology August 5, 2002

Nanotechnology: the Coming Revolution in Molecular Manufacturing

The Amazing Vanishing Transistor Act October 2002

Testing New Physics With Nothing October 29, 2002

Go to another section of this issue:
Intuition: Knowing       Applications: Intuition Exploration (InE) with Feedback