IBM DISCOVERIES ADD PROMISE FOR NANOTECH

Imagine cramming 30,000 full-length movies into a gadget the size of an iPod.

Scientists at IBM said on Thursday they had moved closer to such a feat by learning how to steer single atoms in a way that could create building blocks for ultra-tiny storage devices.

Understanding and manipulating the behavior of atoms is critical to harnessing the power of nanotechnology, which deals with particles tens of thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair.

"One of the most basic properties that every atom has is that it behaves like a little magnet," said Cyrus Hirjibehedin, a scientist at International Business Machines Corp.'s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California.

"If you can keep that magnetic orientation stable over time, then you can use that to store information. That is how your hard drive works," Hirjibehedin said in a telephone interview. What we are trying to understand is how this fundamental property works for a single atom."

Hirjibehedin and colleague Andreas Heinrich studied this property using a special microscope developed at IBM.

"What we've been able to do is to look at an iron atom on a copper surface and to move that magnetic orientation around," Heinrich said.

Now they are looking for an atom that remains stable over a long time. "We have a couple of ideas but we don't really know which ones will work out," Hirjibehedin said.

"In the very long run, we're shooting for data storage on a very tiny scale," he said.

IBM colleagues in Zurich, Switzerland, meanwhile, have stumbled on a way to manipulate molecules to switch on and off, a basic function needed in computer logic.

They had been evaluating the vibration of a molecule when they noticed it had distinct switching capabilities.

Heinrich, who is familiar with the work, said the discovery is especially important because the switching action did not alter the framework of the molecule.

Switches inside computer chips work like a light switch, turning on and off the flow of electrons that ultimately make up the electrical circuits of computer processors.

Molecular switches could be used to store information and would lead to super-fast, super-tiny computer chips.

Task 4.Decide if the following statements are true or false. Correct the false ones with the right information and discuss your answers with a partner.

1. Scientists learned how to steer single atoms which helped them to create ultra-tiny storage devices.

2. Nanotechnology deals with particles smaller than the width of a match.

3. One of the basic properties of the atom is that it behaves like liquid.

4. The scientists are looking for an atom now that remains stable over a long time.

5. A main function needed in computer logic is to manipulate molecules to interchange.

6. Scientists noticed the switching capabilities of the molecules when they were evaluating their vibration.

7. The discovery of the switching action of the molecules altered their framework.

Task 5.Look through the article again and find the English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases:

Task 6.Work in pairs.Reproduce the situations with the words and phrases from the previous Task.

Task 7.Work in groups.Write a list of as many advantages as you can think of for the discovery described in the article. Compare your lists with other groups and discuss your ideas.

Task 8.Make up a list of questions you would like to ask the scientists who discovered the switching capability of the molecule. Discuss your questions with a partner. Why would you like to know it?

Task 9.Look through the article and mark the key-sentences. Discuss your ideas with a partner and prove your choice.

Task 10.Retell the article and express your point of view.

Task 11. Watch the video “How Nanotechnology Works” and complete the text.

Nanotechnology has the potential to change the world in many positive ways, it will improve many the products that we use in every day and make many new products possible. But how is it going to do that?

____________, nanotechnology is the science of very small things, usually smaller than ____________ nanometers. But how small is that? ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_________________ is equivalent to about _______________ across or less. At this scale, things that we take for granted can behave in very different ways.

You can understand the differences if you think about carbon. If your arrange carbon atoms one way, you get diamond. Arrange them in another way, you get ______________ ; arrange them _____________, and you get _________. The nano tech way to arrange carbon atoms is to the roll them into nano scale tubes. When you do that, you get something amazing.

Carbon nano tubes ______________ strong and light, they’ll make it possible to create things like space elevators. The elevator will run up and down a nano tube ___________ into space.

Another application in nanotechnology can be seen in batteries. By making the ____________ inside the batteries at a nanometer scale, it is possible to recharge the battery faster, and the battery lasts longer. The nano particles have a lot more surfaces area, and the whole battery works batter.

Some of the more ___________ ideas in nanotechnology involve new assembly methods. Scientists are _______________ new nano materials that can grow or _________________ themselves.

Right now most things are made by taking a big piece of material and __________ it or shaving it down. In a nanotechnology world, you start with atoms and build things up, giving you ___________ control. Cells are already able to do this; the goal is to find the way for human beings to do this as well.

Nanotechnology is still a very young science, but once it starts advancing, it will affect almost every part of our lives. From medicine to computers to cars, it will _______________ to watch it ____________. So that’s how nanotechnology works.

Task 12.Prepare a presentation on any applications of nanotechnology.

ADDITIONAL TASKS.

Task 1a. Read the text and answer the questions.

1. What does nanotechnology mean?

2. What is nanometer?

3. What cars are expected to be manufactured using nanotechnology?

4. What are the exciting features of these cars?