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| Single-molecule 'electric car' taken for test drive | Single-molecule 'electric car' taken for test drive |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News | By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News |
| Scientists have shown off what can be described as the world's smallest electric car - made of a single, carefully designed molecule. | Scientists have shown off what can be described as the world's smallest electric car - made of a single, carefully designed molecule. |
| The molecule has four branches that act as wheels, rotating when a tiny metal tip applied a small current to them. | The molecule has four branches that act as wheels, rotating when a tiny metal tip applied a small current to them. |
| With 10 electric bursts, the car was made to move six billionths of a metre. | With 10 electric bursts, the car was made to move six billionths of a metre. |
| The approach, href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7372/full/nature10587.html" >published in Nature, joins recent single-molecule efforts, and seems to overcome the forces that often dominate at such tiny scales. | |
| The "batteries" of the electric car come by way of the tip of what is called a scanning tunnelling microscope - an extraordinarily fine point of metal that ends in just an atom or two. As the tip draws near the molecule, electrons jump into it. | The "batteries" of the electric car come by way of the tip of what is called a scanning tunnelling microscope - an extraordinarily fine point of metal that ends in just an atom or two. As the tip draws near the molecule, electrons jump into it. |
| The motor of the approach lies with the four "molecular rotors" that act as the car's wheels; they undergo a change in shape when they absorb the electrons. | The motor of the approach lies with the four "molecular rotors" that act as the car's wheels; they undergo a change in shape when they absorb the electrons. |
| The demonstration is a tour de force in what is called "bottom-up" nanotechnology. A wide array of machines has been demonstrated in recent years, incorporating parts etched to minuscule sizes from chunks of metals or semiconductors - a small version of traditional, "top-down" manufacturing. | The demonstration is a tour de force in what is called "bottom-up" nanotechnology. A wide array of machines has been demonstrated in recent years, incorporating parts etched to minuscule sizes from chunks of metals or semiconductors - a small version of traditional, "top-down" manufacturing. |
| Building up from single, designed molecules is another matter, said Tibor Kudernac, a chemist now at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, and lead author of the paper. | Building up from single, designed molecules is another matter, said Tibor Kudernac, a chemist now at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, and lead author of the paper. |
| "If you look around, in all biological systems are a vast number of molecular machines or rotors based on proteins that do important things very well; muscle contraction is based on protein motors," he explained. | "If you look around, in all biological systems are a vast number of molecular machines or rotors based on proteins that do important things very well; muscle contraction is based on protein motors," he explained. |
| "This is a simple demonstration that we can achieve anything like that. It's an important observation and I think it will motivate people to think about it perhaps a bit more from an application point of view." | "This is a simple demonstration that we can achieve anything like that. It's an important observation and I think it will motivate people to think about it perhaps a bit more from an application point of view." |
| Dr Kudernac concedes that applications for molecular machines like the car are probably far in the future. The first task, he said, was to make it work under normal conditions; the current work has been done at a blisteringly cold -266C and in a high vacuum. | Dr Kudernac concedes that applications for molecular machines like the car are probably far in the future. The first task, he said, was to make it work under normal conditions; the current work has been done at a blisteringly cold -266C and in a high vacuum. |
| And although each potential application will require a newly designed molecular machine, Dr Kudernac remains confident. | And although each potential application will require a newly designed molecular machine, Dr Kudernac remains confident. |
| "There are ways to play around," he said. "That's what we chemists do - we try to design molecules for particular purposes, and I don't see any fundamental limitations." | "There are ways to play around," he said. "That's what we chemists do - we try to design molecules for particular purposes, and I don't see any fundamental limitations." |