Feeding energy into nano machines.... how?

[yrreg]

 

Source of energy?

What follows below is an exchange I had with members in another forum. Can the scientists here help me.

 

Forgive me for asking this question, it might be common stock knowledge among some people here; but I am an ignoramus in matters of nanotechnology. It says in the report above in the OP:

 

 

 

QUOTE The artificial hand can move atoms like people play chess or write on a tiny area that is as small as one-twentieth of the cross-section of a hair. UNQUOTE

 

My question is how do experts of nanotechnology feed energy for nanobots to operate.

 

Also, in order to move atoms about from their original natural positions don't we need tremendous amount of energy?

 

Wouldn't artifically moving atoms about trigger some kind of nuclear conflagration, like setting off a nuclear bomb scale of an explosion?

 

Susma

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Natural vs artificial.

 

Susma, you move trillions of atoms during the course of a day, all over the place... why would it require tremendous amounts of energy just to move one at a time? -- Armrha

 

Of course, naturally, like as when we eat and digest and eliminate. But try to move food down someone's digestive tract artificially, like force-feed people the way vendors of chickens in market force-feed their livestock to make them weigh heavier.

 

Wouldn't artifically moving atoms about trigger some kind of nuclear conflagration, like setting off a nuclear bomb scale of an explosion? -- Susma

 

I need more information from the technically savvy guys here.

 

Susma

 

 

Can the kind and knowledgeable people here help me with information about energy feeding of nano machines -- socalled and so spoken about.

 

Thanks for your goodness.

 

yrreg aka Susma

[[Tycho?]]

Well a nuclear reaction would have to do with changing the configurations of the atomic nuclei, not just moving the atoms themselves around. I dont see why it would take a tremendous amount of energy, I would think it would take a very small amount, since an atom is very, very small.

 

Are you asking how would electricity be transmitted over such small scales? It would be difficult, but I'm sure its possible to make something that can carry energy to a tiny device like that.

[Ollie]

I think I saw in New Scientist some time in the last couple of years someones made a small combustion engine. I doubt it was quite nano-scale, but surely a step in the right direction.

[swansont]

I think the question is not defined well enough. What specific type of nanomachines? "Nanoscale" usually means that some typical dimension of a device is under a micron. Computer processors are nanoscale devices and we power them just fine.

 

If you're talking about a device that is entirely below a micron, there are some clues in the current research.

 

This page explains how small-scale structures respond to correspondingly small forces.

 

For future direction, I think you have to look to MEMS devices being shrunk.

[Skye]

For some examples, just think of stuff in your body. They can be powered by chemical reactions, light or ion gradients.