What Exactly is Nanotechnology ?

human beings have a habit of building big just a casual look through history we'll show you that whenever humans have

developed we've preferred to go big the

pyramids of giza and mexico are a prime

Example then you've got the easter island

statues and stonehenge just to name a

Few but is bigger always better in the last century scientists have shown us that going small can also have its benefits

look at the evolution of computers for

instance the first computer developed by

ibm the howard mark 1 was over 50 feet

long and weighed over 5 tons

today phones that fit in the palm of our

hand have greater computing power than

the first computer ever made

the reduction in the size of transistors

has allowed us to build smaller and

smaller computers and smart devices if

we look back just three decades ago

you'll probably remember that we used to

have big bulky telephones that we couldn't take anywhere the internet was a new concept and life was very different three decades later we've got smartphones 24 7 connectivity and a completely changed lifestyle all thanks to how successfully we've managed to miniaturize technology

we're now at the cusp of yet another

revolution that will completely change

the way we live in the next two to three

Decades this change is going to be a mixture of various ongoing revolutions such as the fintech revolution ai development and nanotechnology which is the topic we'll be covering in this video

the term nano was first introduced by

norio tanaguchi in 1972 to describe the

science of assembling atoms into new

forms but back then it wasn't that

widely known or understood

nanotechnology is the science of

engineering material fabrication and

micro scale patterning at the molecular

and atomic levels this nanotechnology involves the manipulation of matter at a scale smaller than 100 nanometers a nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter which is 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom

to put this in perspective the diameter

of a human hair is on average 80 000

Nanometers making new things at such a small scale is called nanotechnology

at such scales the ordinary rules of

physics and chemistry no longer apply

to prevent this video from getting too

complex it'll be easier to understand

nanotechnology through the example of

Ant-man if you've seen the avengers you'll know that every time ant-man shrunk himself time became relative to him

ant-man in his shrunken form appeared to

move faster than his normal-sized

friends and enemies similarly when he

became bigger during the fight scene in

civil war time kind of slowed down for him

his normal movements took too long which

allowed spider-man and iron man to bring

him down easily this is the same effect that makes it almost impossible to catch a fly

from the perspective of a fly we literally move in slow motion now if you keep going smaller from human size to ant size and from ant size to the size of a molecule and even further from molecular size to subatomic size at each new level a new dimension will open where the laws of physics will not be the same to you as they were on the basic human size level

this is called the quantum realm in the

simplest of terms nanotechnology therefore allows us to explore uncharted territory

the possibilities are endless because

we're just beginning to understand what

we can accomplish with this technology

think of it like this

the basic unit of matter is the atom

everything that we see and feel around

us is made of atoms you're made of atoms

the phone that you have in your hand the

couch you're maybe sitting on or the car

that you drive everything is made of

atoms even the air we breathe and the

water we drink is made of atoms

so the question is if everything's made

of atoms

why do we then have different forms

shapes objects and colors

well it turns out that the way in which

atoms are arranged determines how

anything appears and functions

this is similar to a lego

you can use lego blocks to build

anything

the same lego block can be used to make

a car or a building

similarly atoms can be used to make

anything but once they join together to

form a certain shape they then take the

physical and chemical properties of that

object

let's look at another example to make

this even more interesting

the human body has numerous elements in

it our blood has iron which is very

important for strength

we have zinc in our bodies which is

needed for the immune system we even

have traces of gold silver and copper in

our blood

all of these minerals and elements are

needed for the body to function properly

but the question is where did this iron

come from

irons not naturally found on earth

every last bit of iron present on earth

once came from the core of a star

and stars only make iron when they're

about to die out

similarly there's no way to make gold

naturally

gold in the entire universe is only

created when two neutron stars or a

neutron star and a black hole collide

and merge

this explosion is called a kilonova and

it's the only place in the universe

where gold and heavier elements can be

created

the gold in our bloodstream was once a

part of some kilonova billions of years

ago

so the same atom that was once inside a

dying star is now inside our bodies

giving us life and strength

this whole explanation shows us that

atoms can be rearranged to take

different forms and fulfill different

functions

the ability to manipulate atoms in this

manner is what we call nanotechnology

the term nanotechnology gained traction

around the late 80s with the publication

of eric drexler's book the coming era of

nanotechnology

in this book eric drexler discussed

nanotechnology at length and proposed a

nano scale assembler

a type of device that can use available

raw material to build a replica of

anything

to understand this concept think of a 3d

printer that can print anything if you

have the right raw materials

the idea is quite common in games like

prey where you can recycle objects break

them down into atoms and then fabricate

anything you want from the available

atoms the process of fabrication is not

fictional it's an actual process that's

being used to create nanotechnology that

is already a part of our daily lives

nanotechnology has far-reaching

applications in various fields including

the food health energy agriculture

electronics and environment

it's also used for medicinal purposes

the human body is full of nano-sized

structures such as proteins dna and

cells

nanotechnology offers promising results

to improve their function and stability

biomedicine is an important area for

nanotechnology research

nanotechnology can be used to create

more effective medical treatments and

medicines that target the affected area

to increase the rate of healing and

reduce the negative side effects and

treatment

several anti-cancer drugs including

heckle taxal

bison

5-fluorocell and dexamethasone have been

successfully formulated using

nanomaterials

these drugs have been used for cancer

treatment for over a decade now

more recently nanotechnology came into

the limelight when a team of researchers

won the nobel prize for crispr

which is a nanotechnology-based

gene editing methodology that allows

scientists to cut and paste our genes

for more effective treatment this is the

same technology that's being used in

vaccines to fight against the deadly

pandemic

nanotechnology is also being used to

develop cost-effective ways to generate

sustainable energy

kyoto university has developed a

semiconductor through nanotechnology

that can absorb twice the amount of

sunlight to create more energy than

conventional solar panels

similarly nanotechnology is being used

to create lighter and cheaper materials

for wind turbines

this is one key reason why the cost of

creating sustainable energy is

continuously coming down

nanotechnology is also being used in

fabrics to create next generation

waterproof clothing

shoulder technologies is using a

treatment called nanosphere to coat

fabrics with nanoparticles making them

not only waterproof but also dirt and

dust proof

now that's a breakthrough i can get on

board with

another great example of nanotechnology

being used in our lives is the food

industry

genetically modified seeds produce more

and better quality crops with increased

nutrients

genetically modified crops also don't

need pesticides so they end up reducing

the cost of food to start with

nanotechnology is also being used in the

meat industry to mark meat with

fluorescent nanoparticles that can

indicate the presence of certain

pathogens and bacterias

while nanotechnology has seemingly

endless possibilities it also has a few

drawbacks and disadvantages that need to

be carefully assessed

for instance on one hand genetically

modified seeds have the solution to end

global hunger and malnutrition but on

the other hand there are also adverse

health effects of some genetically

modified food crops

companies that excel in gmo food crops

have been sued for potentially harmful

effects on humans

crispr is another prime example of how

unrelated nanotechnology can cause

potential harm

he jankui the chinese researcher

conducted gene editing tests on human

subjects without prior approval he used

gene editing on two twins with

hiv-positive parents in an attempt to

create children immune to the virus

jonqui's attempt landed him in prison

stripping him of his titles and

privileges

eventually the benefits of

nanotechnology will push it towards

increased acceptance in every field of

life

nanotechnology is already around us but

now it's going to morph into something

that we've only seen in fiction

imagine the possibilities if

nanotechnology can be combined with

robots and ai

yes we're talking about smart nanobots

which are still in their early

developmental stage but this is the

future guys

not just nanotechnology but smart

Nanobots and that's a wrap .