Difference between revisions of "Intuitive feel"

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= How big is an atom? =
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= Atoms =
  
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'''False claim?''' "Atoms are unimaginably small."<br>
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* How big is an atom?
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That's commonly assumed. And whenever some comparison is brought up one usually feels confirmed on hat assumption.
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"Atoms are unimaginably small." that is very a common belief. And whenever some comparison is brought up one usually feels confirmed on hat assumption.  
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Turns out that there is a "best way" to get an inuitive feel for their size that is rarely (or never) used.<br>
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But it turns out that there is a "best way" to get an intuitive feel for their size that is rarely used <small>(or never until here for the first time??)</small>. Here are the details: "[[Magnification theme-park]]". – Judge for yourself whether this "atoms are unimaginably small" belief is false misbelief after all.
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Here are the details: "[[Magnification theme-park]]". – Judge yourself.
+
  
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= How does it feel when you grab two atoms and rub them against each other? =
+
* '''How does it feel when you grab two atoms and rub them against each other?''' <br> Atoms are very soft and slippery. <br>Main article: "[[The feel of atoms]]"
 +
* '''How do atoms work and what shape do they have?''' <br> They work like vibrating drums, just different in all the details. <br>Their shape is like symmetric smooth clouds, a bit like blurred fruit seeds. Shape can change when neighbor atoms change. <br>Main article: "[[The basics of atoms]]"
 +
* '''At which speeds do Atoms usually move?''' <br>Too fast to find an intuitive way to imagine it. Sorry. <br> The Speed of sound <small>(experienced half a million times faster if you scale up to barely see the model-atoms)</small>. <br><small>But an intuitive feeling for speeds will be attainable for motion of bigger stuff that is of more interest (namely [[crystolecule]]s)</small>. <br>Main article: "[[The speed of atoms]]"
  
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Moved to: "[[The feel of atoms]]"
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= Speeds =
  
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= How do atoms work and what shape do they have ? =
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* '''At which speeds do Atoms usually move?''' <br> See answer above in section ''Atoms''. <br>Main article: "[[The speed of atoms]]"
 +
* '''At which speeds will nanorobotics usually operate?''' <br>Pretty slow actually. In the low mm/s range. <br> <small>(experienced pretty fast if you scale up to barely see the model-atoms. About mach 7)</small> <br>Main article: "[[The speed of nanorobotics]]"
  
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Moved to: "[[The basics of atoms]]"
+
= Everything is "magnetic" =
  
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= At which speeds do Atoms usually move =
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Well, it's not really magnetism, but magnetism seems to be the best macroscale analogy for getting across a basic intuitive feeling. 
 +
When going down to the nanoscale one encounters a new force that is omnipresent always and everywhere. The [[Van der Waals force]] (VdW).
 +
It feels as if everything where magnetic. Everything and anything loose will stick to everything else that it comes too close to.<br>
  
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As we all know being hit by a bullet from a handgun is not good for health.
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* Similar to the magnetic force we are used to in everyday macroscale life, the VdW force drops off very quickly with distance / is rather short in range. <br>More short range even than magnetism - {{todo|verify quantitatively - low importance}}
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But what if you split the bullet into many many small pieces and let them hit you with the same speed
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* Unlike a magnetic force the VdW force has no polarity. Is always attractive. Well, when things come close enough there's repulsion from [[nonbonded interactions]].<br> (Also related are some means for [[levitation]]).
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but now evenly distributed from all sides (assuming no breaking through air resistance)?
+
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Would you dare to try this?
+
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What if I tell you that you already did this for your whole life.
+
  
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When we assume that:
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The VdW force is extremely useful for putting and holding stuff together at the nanoscale (and maybe microscale). Temporarily during (dis)assembly or permanently in final products. <br>
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* the bullet is split up into all its individual atoms such that there now is plenty of space between them
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Even small amounts of contact area can make a bond that is strong enough such that the relentless eternal jostling of [[thermal motion]] [[for all practical purposes]] never suffices to kick loose even one of many [[mol]]s of parts. For more details see: [[Connection method#Van der Waals locking]].
−
* the bullet is converted into a spherical shell of dispersed atoms <br>(a shell with of about a thousandfold volume and a thousandth of the density of the original bullet)
+
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* the shell is concentically coming at you and hittig you with the original non-reduced speed
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then you probably would not even notice being hit.<br>
+
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Baffling?
+
  
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What the split up atoms of the bullet bullet would do to you is actually very similar to
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Of course from the actual physical origins (and the quantitative effects) the magnetic force and the VdW force are very much different.
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what the molecules of the air do to you.
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So instead of everything is "magnetic" it would be better to say that everything is "vanderwaalic".
  
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If one looks at free flying atoms (or very small molecules) like the ones one finds in air
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Side-note: <br>
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then there speed of motion lies around the speed of sound.
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Instead of using the magnetic force as commonly known macroscale analogy an alternative macroscale analogy would be ''everything is "sticky"''.  
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That is the main constituents of our earth's atmosphere (dinitrogen N<sub>2</sub> and dioxygen O<sub>2</sub>
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This alternate analogy is not used here mainly because:
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zip around with average speeds that average out at about 340m/s for (at normal conditions).  
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* stickiness is usually associated with some sort of glue and thus with high viscosity which absolutely does not match reality even as a superficial analogy. Magnetism on the other hand is not associated to any medium and is associated with extremely low friction.
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This about the speed of a bullet of a hand gun.
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* Magnetism (just as the VdW force) noticeably increases in strength when closing in. Glue does not really behave that way.
  
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In contrast to the bullet air molecules just do hit you permanently and relentlessly instead of just for roughly 30 microsceconds.
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= Everything is extremely bouncy =
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30 microseconds is the time it takes for a 1cm long (hopefully atomically dispersed) bullet to hit you tip to tail.
+
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Well since this "impact" would be atop normal air pressure you would experiences doubled air pressure for these 30 microseconds.
+
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But 30 microseconds are so short that due to the inertia of mass of your skin there will barely be any effect.
+
  
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The speed of sound is pretty fast even for macroscale objects.
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Drop some macroscale machine part like e.g. a metal gear down at a metal surface and it quickly comes to rest.
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Being smaller makes motions with same speeds seem to be faster.
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Not so much at the nanoscale. [[Crystolecules]] behave more like rubber balls, just worse. Way worse.  
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Driving an 1:10 RC car with FPV (first person view) remote vision at about 10m/s=36km/h
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Rubber balls that just do not want to stop bouncing.
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feels like driving with 100m/s=360km/h but in reality it is still the 10m/s=36km/h.
+
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What we actually experience as "speed" is the frequency with which we are passing some stuff in the environment.
+
  
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Scaling up just size by the aforementioned ideal scaling factor of 500.000
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<small>Side-note: In some situations (like e.g. a flat disk hitting a flat wall) nanoscale gemstone "bouncyness" can become involved into a serious fight with nanoscale gemstone "vanderwalicness". Working out who wins (bounce-back or snap-to) is a serious mathematical/physical modeling challenge. Experiments are needed, but many of those can't be done yet.</small>
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and leaving time unchanged as-is leads to a scaleup of speeds too
+
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The speeds of real size air molecules go from only ~340m/s at 1:1 scale
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to an experienced pseudo-speed of scaled up air molecules of about 170.000.000 m/s at 500.000:1 scale.
+
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This is a bit more than halve the speed of light. There is absolutely no way to intuitively ascertain that.
+
  
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Now add all the inter-atomic collisions and you end up with a ridiculous pinball motion.
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That bounciness is not only present when you smash a [[crystolecule]] against a wall, but also (which is more relevant) in the operation of gemstone based nanomachinery. Flex waves can run back and forth, barely damped, long ways through complex and even branched axle systems.
  
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This has pretty wild consequences.
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While designing for this can be major PITA (ahem pretty difficult) like in electrical circuit design,
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Among others is provides the explanation why life could emerge just by accident. Why evolution works.
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it also potentially offers the possibility to archive extreme high efficiencies.
  
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To have a more natural feel for the speeds at the nanoscale, speeds must be scaled in the opposite direction.
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Also one can gain more control via deliberate introduction of discrete damping elements.
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One wants to scaling ... time to keep operation frequencies natural when transferred to the model scaled up in size
+
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Using this approach still leaves us with hair diameter model air molecules bouncing around at the speed of sound ~340m/s
+
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while now for every real second to pass we need to wait 500.000 seconds (almost 6 days) in the model for the real second to pass.
+
  
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So a we have a model-molecule (scaled up to hair diameter) bouncing around with the speed of sound
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= Everything is shaky =
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in a densely populated molecular environment (scaled up a heap of beard stubbles) for about six days
+
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that is thereby emulating just one real second. Just one. Let that sink.
+
  
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Ok, this is not very intuitive.
+
Worse than in a wood wheeled carriage racing over cobblestones.<br>
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Now we have distributed one totally and utterly unintuitive and unimaginably big quantity (halve the speed of light)
+
'''Or: You are like an astronaut – don't ever let go of your tools – they may haunt you'''
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into two still quite unintuitive and unimaginably large quantities (speed of sound and a quite big stretching of time).
+
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This is not much better than before, if even, isn't it? Well yes.
+
  
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Where this scaling method that also scales time not only space will become more useful for an attainment of an inuitive feel
+
* What happens when you let go of a building block?
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is when it comes to parts that are just a slightly bit bigger than molecules (nanomachinery crystolecules).
+
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Such parts already move quite a bit slower than single molecules.
+
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In fact usually slow enough that they can convebiently be traced around by eye.
+
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With our intuitivity preserving "magnification factor" of 500.000 typical nanomachinery operation frequencies
+
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e.g. 1MHz will get downscaled to just 2Hz.
+
  
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= Speeds of motion in nanorobotics =
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Main article: "[[The heat-overpowers-gravity size-scale]]"
  
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Today it's general education that temperature is equivalent to the speed of motion of particles at the atomic scale.
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Let's consider an somewhat unusual fall experiment. A small gripper let go of a building block. Simple? See if you answer right.
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If you unfamiliar with this "thermal motion" also known as "brownian motion" I suggest you read up on this elsewhere (e.g. wikipedia) before continuing here.
+
  
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== The incredible rate things zap past their surroundings (just driven by temperature) ==
+
Related: [[spiky needle grabbing]]
  
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Thermal motion at the nanoscale is pretty incredible. <br>
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[[File:Fall-experiment-quiz-en.svg|thumb|center|480px|A fall experiment quiz to illustrate the quite unfamiliar mechanical behavior in the nanoscale.]]
−
Small single molecules zip around at thermal speeds of a few hundred meters per second. That's about the speed of sound. When we scale up size by our [[conceivable magnification factor|usual magnification factor of 500.000]] to make model atoms (say water molecules) have the diameter of a human hair and when we keep the flow of time unchanged then those hair sized molecules zip around with more than half the speed of light.  
+
  
−
But since those water molecules are densely packed they do not move in long straight lines.
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= Scaling laws =
−
* In liquid phase (e.g. water) they move in twisty paths with curve radii of about their own size.
+
−
* In one atmosphere gas phase (e.g. air) they move about 250 times their size (the mean free path length) before colliding and making a more or less U turn. In the 500,000 times scaled up model those U-turns are executed at near the speed of light every 2.5 centimeters (250 x 0.1mm).
+
  
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Note that molecules in a liquid or gas that are not bond to a crystal run apart quantum-blurrily quite quickly (more on that later).
+
They describe what changes when one goes down the scale.
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So a "soup" of a superposition of all possible collision-histories is a better picture for fluids and gasses.
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E.g. that magnetic motors become weak but electrostatic ones strong.
 +
More details can be found at the [[scaling laws|scaling laws main page]].
  
−
== Assembly by mindlessly throwing parts together at ridiculous rates ==
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= The prospective feel of gem-gum products =
  
−
Given this situation it becomes very obvious that in a liquid environment that is densely packed with other solvent molecules (e.g. water) solvated molecules meet a lot of other solvated molecules in a very short amount of time.
+
Gem-gum products though machine like robotic in the nanocosm are not necessarily cold hard and robot like to the human senses (See: [[Soft-core macrorobots with hard-core nanomachinery]]).
−
Bigger more massive molecules like proteins ("puzzle piece molecules") move slower but collision rates are still very very high.
+
[[Emulated elasticity]] can create any form imaginable with gradients from soft to hard.
 +
It isn't an easy to attain property but it is an highly desirable one and will emerge at some point.
  
−
This is why puzzle piece shaped proteins molecules in biological systems can "assemble themselves" into their intended products. Via their random collisions they just mindlessly try all possible places they could bond to in very very fast succession. It's mindless trying like having toddlers that do not yet grasp that cubes do not fit through round holes do the assembly job but since it's done so fast (like brute force computer algorithms) useful things can be assembled nonetheless.
+
= Related =
  
−
The technical term for this method of assembly is "self assembly" but here we'll call it "[[thermally driven assembly]]" which captures the meaning better. On the day to day macroscale this method of assembly is usually not applied for practical purposes due to its ridiculous slowness and requirement of parts fitting together like a sticky puzzle. Fully grasping the process how it happens at the nanoscale at an intuitive level may be impossible due to the vast number of trials until the final successful bonding reaction. {{todo|investigate better visualization methods}}
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Provide means for an intuitive understanding seems to be
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There are beautiful CG videos of molecular biology that use fake motions mo make it comprehensible {{todo|add link}}.
+
a good [[didactic approach]] for a wide [[target audience]].  
  
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== Use of thermally driven assembly to get away from thermally driven assembly ASAP ==
+
== In the book "Radical Abundance" ==
  
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[[Thermally driven assembly]] is the predominant form of assembly in biological systems.
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In the book [[Radical Abundance]] the introduction tries to convey an intuitive feel for how things behave down at the nanoscale.
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[[Thermally driven assembly]] of increasingly artificial molecules will be (and already is!!) a very useful tool for walking the initial steps of the path to advanced nanofactories.
+
{{wikitodo|give a more precise reference}}
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But as it turns out in an advanced nanofactory (the far term goal) it makes much more sense to actually constrain / suppress thermal vibrations and take care of the transport oneself in a fully controlled and less mindless fashion.
+
  
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The idea of working towards a point where we deny the help of thermal motion (shunning the teachings of nature) but doing assembly tightly controlled and guided instead has received harsh criticism in the past. It was and still is often misunderstood as a misunderstading of the real nature of the nanocosm.
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== Richard Feynman ==
  
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But there actually is '''an example where we already succeeded with the suppression of thermal noise.
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There are great recordings of the famous physicist and teacher Richard Feynmen about the importance:
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Nanoelectronics.''' In microchips we've already learned to suppress thermally caused electrical noise without even noticing it since it just gradually got more difficult.
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* of an intuitive understanding of things and
 +
* of looking at things from new perspectives.
  
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The two necessary requirements for thermal noise suppression are the same that we used to get away from analog technology namely:
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Main article: [[Richard Feynman]]
  
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* error margins and
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== Related ==
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* error correction
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Now we use mostly digital electronics.
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=== Getting a good intuition about atoms ===
  
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Given that electrons start to behave strongly quantum-mechanically in the nanoscale
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* [[Intuitively understanding the size of an atom]]
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(quantum blurriness and thermal motion can often be treated in a common fashion) -- which stands is [[Nanomechanics is barely mechanical quantummechanics|in stark contrast to nanomechanical nanomachines]] -- this is even more of a feat. We where not forced to switch some sort of probabilistic electronics (whatever that would be). Since much less quantum mechanical in behavior advanced nanomechanical systems will have even less reason to work in a purely probabilistic fashion.
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* [[The feel of atoms]]
 +
* [[The basics of atoms]]
 +
* [[The speed of atoms]] – [[The speed of nanorobotiocs]] and ...
 +
* ... how the two are usually far apart: [[Stroboscopic illusion in crystolecule animations]]
 +
* [[Periodic table of elements]] as the ultimate construction toy
 +
* [[Limits of construction kit analogy]]
  
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== The smaller the more productive ==
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For an intuitive understanding how energies, forces, and stiffness <br>
 +
at the nanoscale compare to each other see: [[Energy, force, and stiffness]]
  
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Main article: "[[Higher productivity of smaller machinery]]"
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=== Getting a good intuition about thermal motions ===
  
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While size goes down speed goes up.
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* [[The heat-overpowers-gravity size-scale]]
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A good example in nature is the increasing wing flapping rate seen in birds and insects.
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* [[thermally skittering building blocks]]
 +
* [[thermally jumping building blocks]] – practically likely not happening except designed for – [[spiky needle grabbing]]
  
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By naively scaling down a current day 3D-printer by a factor of 500.000 (just for illustration - not a serious proposal) it becomes 500.000 times faster.
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=== Averting false intuitions – things that may come unexpected ===
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A typically time for 3D printers to print parts that have about the mass of the printer itself is on the order of 10 hours. This shrinks down to just 0.72 seconds.
+
  
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Now a single shrunk down printer won't produce much but imagine the whole volume of the original non-shrunk printer filled up with shrunk down printers. This would then produce the macroscale printers own mass in less than a second.
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* Why [[nanomechanics is barely mechanical quantummechanics]]
 +
* [[Soft-core macrorobots with hard-core nanomachinery]]
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* The [[unsupported rotating ring speed limit]]
 +
* [[Scaling law]]s
  
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In a serious advanced nanofactory design the time to produce the production machinery's own mass can become
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=== Truely intuitively understanding the size scales involved ===
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even smaller due to better materials, lower friction, smaller size steps, to name a few reasons.
+
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'''For a good intuitive feel about the production rate imagine products shooting out like rifle bullets.'''
+
  
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I fact the time to produce production machinery's own mass can become so short that the products that can be produced at the nanoscale cannot be fed out fast enough at the [[macroscale]] anymore.
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* [[Maginification theme park]]
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Getting even remotely near there would require impractical levels of cooling.
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* [[Intuitively understanding the size of an atom]]
 +
* [[Distorted visualisation methods for convergent assembly]]
  
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Solution: One humbly accepts not to get the full crazy level potential of nanoscale production machinery
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=== An intuition about the possible consequences of gemstone metamaterial technology ===
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and is content with just more than practical levels of productivity.
+
  
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To do this one does not fill up the whole volume with productive nanosystems. One abandons the concept of clouds of [[molecular assembler]]s. Instead one integrates everything in a thin chip. A nanofactory.
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* Understanding possible consequences of [[gem-gum technology]] via [[story scenarios]].
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For details check the main article: [[Macroscale slowness bottleneck]]
+
  
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Even in the case when one really wants to push the limits (there's likely military interest here) its likely that a highly advanced fractal nanofactory that is a little thicker is the best solution.
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= External links =
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For a continuously running device the cooling facilities then are likely much bigger than the productive device itself. The production becomes highly inefficient and turns a lot of energy into heat.
+
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Still there is the [[fundamental specific acceleration limit]] which cannot be exceeded.
+
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This is the point where no known material would not break from the acceleration loads.
+
  
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== Motions in the far term goal of advanced nanofactories ==
 
−
 
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Assembly in an advanced [[nanofactory]] will resemble more of a factory assembly line far away from any similarity to biological systems. All the machinery will usually run much slower than the thermal motions (about at least a factor of 1000) but since every try is a hit (for all practical purposes) the production throughput can be the same or higher than the one of natural bio-systems that work with [[thermally driven assembly]].
 
−
 
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In rare occasions one might want to let go of molecules or [[crystolecule]]s in an advanced nanosystem.
 
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Thermal motion for bigger [[crystolecule]]s in a vacuum under gravity are statistically distributed throwing parabolas.
 
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Single molecules show significant quantum blurring when released.
 
−
 
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* [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Huellkurve_wurfparabel.svg Envelope of throwing trajectories with same speed]
 
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* [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inclinedthrow.gif Throwing trajectories with various speed in same direction]
 
−
 
−
= What happens when you let go of a building block? =
 
−
 
−
Main article: "[[The heat-overpowers-gravity size-scale]]"
 
−
 
−
Let's consider an somewhat unusual fall experiment. A small gripper let go of a building block. Simple? See if you answer right.
 
−
 
−
[[File:Fall-experiment-quiz-en.svg|thumb|center|480px|A fall experiment quiz to illustrate the quite unfamiliar mechanical behavior in the nanoscale.]]
 
−
 
−
= Scaling laws =
 
−
 
−
They describe what changes when one goes down the scale.
 
−
E.g. that magnetic motors become weak but electrostatic ones strong.
 
−
More details can be found at the [[scaling laws|scaling laws main page]].
 
−
 
−
= The feel of AP Products =
 
−
 
−
AP products though robotic and gemstone like in the nanocosm are not necessarily cold hard and robot like to the human senses.
 
−
[[Emulated elasticity]] can create any form imaginable with gradients from soft to hard. It isn't an easy to attain property but it is an highly desirable one and will emerge at some point.
 
−
 
−
= Bonding energies - Tensile strengths - Stiffnesses =
 
−
 
−
{{todo|Add the same info table as on VdW force page}} <br>
 
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['''Todo:''' Add table - make it visualizable for covalent bonds and VdW bonds] <br>
 
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['''Todo:''' show surface area thats VdW ashesion is energetically equivalent to one covalent bond - related: [[Form locking]]]
 
−
 
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* [[Connection method#Van der Waals locking]]
 
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* [[Van der Waals force]]
 
−
 
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= Further =
 
−
 
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* [[Periodic table of elements]]
 
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* acceleration limits
 
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* jumping building blocks
 
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* Why [[nanomechanics is barely mechanical quantummechanics]]
 
 
* '''Video Playlist:''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjGP0iXhsr8&list=PLG7lwFsqKHb8_24MArWWW9IgYQtieV8BR The Shape of Atoms and Bonds (By "Learn Hub")]
 
* '''Video Playlist:''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjGP0iXhsr8&list=PLG7lwFsqKHb8_24MArWWW9IgYQtieV8BR The Shape of Atoms and Bonds (By "Learn Hub")]
−
* [[Distorted visualisation methods for convergent assembly]]
 
−
* [[Scaling law]]s
 
  
 
[[Category:General]]
 
[[Category:General]]

Latest revision as of 13:15, 8 July 2021

This is an introduction to the character of robotic work in the nanocosm.
It should deliver some intuitive feeling of how things work down there.

Atoms

  • How big is an atom?

"Atoms are unimaginably small." that is very a common belief. And whenever some comparison is brought up one usually feels confirmed on hat assumption. But it turns out that there is a "best way" to get an intuitive feel for their size that is rarely used (or never until here for the first time??). Here are the details: "Magnification theme-park". – Judge for yourself whether this "atoms are unimaginably small" belief is false misbelief after all.

  • How does it feel when you grab two atoms and rub them against each other?
    Atoms are very soft and slippery.
    Main article: "The feel of atoms"
  • How do atoms work and what shape do they have?
    They work like vibrating drums, just different in all the details.
    Their shape is like symmetric smooth clouds, a bit like blurred fruit seeds. Shape can change when neighbor atoms change.
    Main article: "The basics of atoms"
  • At which speeds do Atoms usually move?
    Too fast to find an intuitive way to imagine it. Sorry.
    The Speed of sound (experienced half a million times faster if you scale up to barely see the model-atoms).
    But an intuitive feeling for speeds will be attainable for motion of bigger stuff that is of more interest (namely crystolecules).
    Main article: "The speed of atoms"

Speeds

  • At which speeds do Atoms usually move?
    See answer above in section Atoms.
    Main article: "The speed of atoms"
  • At which speeds will nanorobotics usually operate?
    Pretty slow actually. In the low mm/s range.
    (experienced pretty fast if you scale up to barely see the model-atoms. About mach 7)
    Main article: "The speed of nanorobotics"

Everything is "magnetic"

Well, it's not really magnetism, but magnetism seems to be the best macroscale analogy for getting across a basic intuitive feeling. When going down to the nanoscale one encounters a new force that is omnipresent always and everywhere. The Van der Waals force (VdW). It feels as if everything where magnetic. Everything and anything loose will stick to everything else that it comes too close to.

  • Similar to the magnetic force we are used to in everyday macroscale life, the VdW force drops off very quickly with distance / is rather short in range.
    More short range even than magnetism - (TODO: verify quantitatively - low importance)
  • Unlike a magnetic force the VdW force has no polarity. Is always attractive. Well, when things come close enough there's repulsion from nonbonded interactions.
    (Also related are some means for levitation).

The VdW force is extremely useful for putting and holding stuff together at the nanoscale (and maybe microscale). Temporarily during (dis)assembly or permanently in final products.
Even small amounts of contact area can make a bond that is strong enough such that the relentless eternal jostling of thermal motion for all practical purposes never suffices to kick loose even one of many mols of parts. For more details see: Connection method#Van der Waals locking.

Of course from the actual physical origins (and the quantitative effects) the magnetic force and the VdW force are very much different. So instead of everything is "magnetic" it would be better to say that everything is "vanderwaalic".

Side-note:
Instead of using the magnetic force as commonly known macroscale analogy an alternative macroscale analogy would be everything is "sticky". This alternate analogy is not used here mainly because:

  • stickiness is usually associated with some sort of glue and thus with high viscosity which absolutely does not match reality even as a superficial analogy. Magnetism on the other hand is not associated to any medium and is associated with extremely low friction.
  • Magnetism (just as the VdW force) noticeably increases in strength when closing in. Glue does not really behave that way.

Everything is extremely bouncy

Drop some macroscale machine part like e.g. a metal gear down at a metal surface and it quickly comes to rest. Not so much at the nanoscale. Crystolecules behave more like rubber balls, just worse. Way worse. Rubber balls that just do not want to stop bouncing.

Side-note: In some situations (like e.g. a flat disk hitting a flat wall) nanoscale gemstone "bouncyness" can become involved into a serious fight with nanoscale gemstone "vanderwalicness". Working out who wins (bounce-back or snap-to) is a serious mathematical/physical modeling challenge. Experiments are needed, but many of those can't be done yet.

That bounciness is not only present when you smash a crystolecule against a wall, but also (which is more relevant) in the operation of gemstone based nanomachinery. Flex waves can run back and forth, barely damped, long ways through complex and even branched axle systems.

While designing for this can be major PITA (ahem pretty difficult) like in electrical circuit design, it also potentially offers the possibility to archive extreme high efficiencies.

Also one can gain more control via deliberate introduction of discrete damping elements.

Everything is shaky

Worse than in a wood wheeled carriage racing over cobblestones.
Or: You are like an astronaut – don't ever let go of your tools – they may haunt you

  • What happens when you let go of a building block?

Main article: "The heat-overpowers-gravity size-scale"

Let's consider an somewhat unusual fall experiment. A small gripper let go of a building block. Simple? See if you answer right.

Related: spiky needle grabbing

A fall experiment quiz to illustrate the quite unfamiliar mechanical behavior in the nanoscale.

Scaling laws

They describe what changes when one goes down the scale. E.g. that magnetic motors become weak but electrostatic ones strong. More details can be found at the scaling laws main page.

The prospective feel of gem-gum products

Gem-gum products though machine like robotic in the nanocosm are not necessarily cold hard and robot like to the human senses (See: Soft-core macrorobots with hard-core nanomachinery). Emulated elasticity can create any form imaginable with gradients from soft to hard. It isn't an easy to attain property but it is an highly desirable one and will emerge at some point.

Related

Provide means for an intuitive understanding seems to be a good didactic approach for a wide target audience.

In the book "Radical Abundance"

In the book Radical Abundance the introduction tries to convey an intuitive feel for how things behave down at the nanoscale. (wiki-TODO: give a more precise reference)

Richard Feynman

There are great recordings of the famous physicist and teacher Richard Feynmen about the importance:

  • of an intuitive understanding of things and
  • of looking at things from new perspectives.

Main article: Richard Feynman

Related

Getting a good intuition about atoms

For an intuitive understanding how energies, forces, and stiffness
at the nanoscale compare to each other see: Energy, force, and stiffness

Getting a good intuition about thermal motions

Averting false intuitions – things that may come unexpected

Truely intuitively understanding the size scales involved

An intuition about the possible consequences of gemstone metamaterial technology

External links

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