Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology

Manufactured products are made from atoms, and the properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. For instance, if we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamond; if we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a few other trace elements) we can make computer chips. But today's manufacturing methods are very crude at the molecular level. They can only deal with molecules at large-scale levels. It's like trying to make a tiny model of a ship with boxing gloves on. In the future, Nanotechnology will let us take off the boxing gloves. Nanotechnology manipulates matter on an atomic and molecular scale. It deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size.