Single-molecule car unveiled
November 10th, 2011 - 9:11 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattAmsterdam, Nov 10 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Dutch scientists have unveiled the world’s tiniest car which is just a single molecule big. The remote-controlled vehicle is powered by electrical impulses and it is capable of moving from one location to another.
The feat was achieved by a group of scientists led by University of Groningen’s Ben Feringa. The researchers explained that the only challenge that the molecular car has is that gravity does not get to act on it. That makes the control of the vehicle very complex.
The scientists say they will upgrade the vehicle and the next one may be controlled by light. It took the researchers several years to come up with the best design for the vehicle. The design of the wheels which are made of molecular rotors proved to be the most challenging part of the car’s design. Feringa explained that getting all the four wheels to move simultaneously was not an easy task.
He said that, “Nature doesn’t use a single motor it uses many motors in concert, for example in muscles.”
Feringa believes that the breakthrough could help other scientists to work on future projects. He said that, “It takes things that were large hurdles and pushes them down so that other people can enter the field.”
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Tags: amsterdam, breakthrough, dutch scientists, electrical impulses, four wheels, gravity, hurdles, molecule, muscles, rotors, university of groningen