BigTrancer
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2000
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haha i remember those! i'm sure i still have a Rubik's Magic in a box somewhere LOL
BigTrancer
BigTrancer
Timmmmmy said:Floral Patterning. the kind of intertwined roses and such you often see on wallpaper and carpets. when your REALLY tripping the flowing plants look like they're moving together, and if there are roses or other stuff with petals they can often appar to be flowering before your very eyes!
NanoKids made in lab
Man-shaped molecules help students learn chemistry.
14 October 2003
HELEN R. PILCHER
Nanokids are made from carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen.
© Nanokids
A team of Texans has created molecules in their own image. The tiny army of human lookalikes is helping Houston kids to learn about chemistry.
The researchers call their molecules the NanoKids. Their bodies are made from carbon and hydrogen, and their eyes are oxygen atoms. Each stands just 2 nanometres tall, a billion times shorter than the average man.
"We have whole communities of them living in glass jars in the lab," says team leader James Tour of Rice University in Houston.
Most people are bewildered by chemical structures, Tour explains - humanizing them makes them easier to grasp. "We talk about arms and legs, rather than alkyne and acetyl groups," he says.
The team used small, commercially available molecules to produce their progeny. The torsos are benzene rings - hexagons of carbon atoms. The researchers use iodide ions to attach the limbs, which are made of carbon and hydrogen. The figures' heads are made from alcohols.
The first NanoKids were born in May 2001. Now, with a few chemical tweaks, the family has a grown. There are stubby-legged NanoBabies, long-haired NanoTeens and bendy NanoDancers.
Adding sulphur to the NanoKids' feet enables them to stand up - albeit only on gold. The two elements bind strongly, allowing some ten trillion NanoKids to line up on a metal platform the size of a postage stamp.
Rap the table
The anthropomorphic molecules are part of an educational outreach programme on trial in Texas. The same team has produced a short DVD that mixes specially commissioned science rap with animation. "You don't get it If you didn't grow up with MTV," says Tour.
The viewer sees the world through the eyes of a NanoKid as he or she pulls atoms from the periodic table and combines them. It should help children understand atoms and chemical bonds, Tour explains.
Eight Houston schools are using the curriculum-linked disc as a teaching aid for 11-13-year-olds. If the feedback is good and funding is forthcoming, Tour hopes that students across the United States will get to play with his NanoKids.