| Posted: Dec 15, 2015 | |
NanoCar Race, the first-ever race of molecule-cars (w/video)(Nanowerk News) The NanoCar Race is a race where molecular machines compete on a nano-sized track. A NanoCar is a single molecule-car that has wheels and a chassis... and is propelled by a small electric shock. |
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| The race will be invisible to the naked eye: a unique microscope based in Toulouse, France, will make it possible to watch the competition. | |
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| The NanoCar race is mostly a fantastic human and scientific adventure that will be broadcast worldwide. The event will take place in October 2016. | |
| Time trials will determine which nanocar is the fastest, though there may be head-to-head races with up to four cars on the track at once, according to organizers. | |
| A nanocar is a single-molecule vehicle of 100 or so atoms that incorporates a chassis, axles and freely rotating wheels. Each of the entries will be propelled across a custom-built gold surface by an electric current supplied by the tip of a scanning electron microscope. The track will be cold at 5 kelvins (minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit) and in a vacuum. | |
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| A preliminary runway constructed by C. Manzano and We Hyo Soe (A*Star, IMRE) in Singapore, with the 2 starting gold ad-atoms, the 5 gold ad-atoms for the track and the 2 gold ad-atoms had been already constructed atom by atom. | |
| For this first edition, molecule-vehicles are accepted with at least a chemical structure of about one hundred of atoms. It is preferable to propose a molecule-vehicle with 4 wheels, a chassis and a molecular motor but this is not compulsory at this stage. The following molecule-cars have been proposed, accepted and the corresponding team registered by October 2015. | |
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| Nanocar designs by the five participating teams. | |
| The registered molecule-vehicles have been 3D printed by the organizers at a macroscopic scale. On the photography presented below, each 3D print is in effect a 100,000,000 enlargement of the real size of each registered molecule vehicle. | |
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| Source: CNRS | |
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