In the first two days of being introduced to nanotechnology, as we reviewed, amongst other things, the correlation between the development of microscopes, and their corresponding aid in scientific progress. A couple of the microscopes that we learned of and caught my interest were the atomic force microscope, and the scanning electronic microscope. The atomic force microscope is amazing in that it can reach down the fractions of nanometers. It functions through a cantilever with a tip on its end that scans the surface of an object. The tip in the cantilever is given a constant amount of pressure, and the image displayed on the microscope’s screen is determined on the amount of the distance the tip is displaced as it scans the surface. Second, the scanning electronic microscope works by the use of electrons. Electrons are shot at a sample, and they bounce off to a detector which draws a picture of the sample based on the intensity the electrons travel in. One of the scientific discoveries discussed in the lectures that surprised me the most was the radical color, and behavioral changes that any material undergoes as the corresponding material is viewed in an extremely small portion. These changes that occur are due to a process called quantum confinement, where electrons in a certain material are forced into a smaller area. This process additionally shortens the wavelengths of the given material which changes its color in the spectrum according to the size of the container the electrons are confined in.
http://www.ringsurf.com/online/2003-structures.html
http://www.mos.org/sln/SEM/
http://www.nanoscience.com/education/AFM.html
http://www.purdue.edu/REM/rs/sem.htm
http://www.physlink.com/News/101303QuantumWires.cfm