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Rice researchers build ‘nanocar’

Posted By Matt Bramanti On 21st October 2005 @ 10:17 In Houston, Science | No Comments

nanocar.jpg
It gets 100 gajillion miles per gallon.

Scientists at our own Rice University have constructed a ‘[1] nanocar,’ barely the width of a DNA strand:

The nanocar consists of a chassis and axles made of well-defined organic groups with pivoting suspension and freely rotating axles. The wheels are buckyballs, spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms apiece. The entire car measures just 3-4 nanometers across, making it slightly wider than a strand of DNA. A human hair, by comparison, is about 80,000 nanometers in diameter.

The experiment hit a snag, however, when the car broke down on 59, and was towed by a microscopic Safe Clear wrecker.


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URL to article: http://www.mattsapundit.com/2005/10/21/rice-researchers-build-nanocar/

URLs in this post:
[1] nanocar: http://media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=7850&SnID=3884970
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