+ - Smallest ever "electric-car" made of just one mole->
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FBeans
FBeans writes ""Scientists have shown off what can be described as the world's smallest electric car — made of a single, carefully designed molecule."
He continues, "The molecule has four branches that act as wheels, rotating when a tiny metal tip applied a small current to them."
Unfortunately it seems the car isn't going anywhere fast. After 10 electrical bursts it had only traveled six billionths of a meter. Further to this though, the car only works in -266C whist in a high vacuum. Dr Kudernac, the lead author on the paper, seems optimistic despite the potential road blocks that the single-molecule car faces.
"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 is a long road ahead for this area of chemistry and it is yet to be know if there will be any real application of the smallest car in the world."
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He continues, "The molecule has four branches that act as wheels, rotating when a tiny metal tip applied a small current to them."
Unfortunately it seems the car isn't going anywhere fast. After 10 electrical bursts it had only traveled six billionths of a meter. Further to this though, the car only works in -266C whist in a high vacuum. Dr Kudernac, the lead author on the paper, seems optimistic despite the potential road blocks that the single-molecule car faces.
"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 is a long road ahead for this area of chemistry and it is yet to be know if there will be any real application of the smallest car in the world."
Link to Original Source
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Smallest ever "electric-car" made of just one mole