Barack Obama In Nanotubes

[KittyWampus]

A nanobama structure of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's image, each made with approximately 150 million tiny carbon nanotubes, is photographed using optical and electron microscopes by University of Michigan Mechanical Engineering Department in this image released to Reuters November 10, 2008. The image, based on an original drawing by Shepard Fairey, is made of approximately 150 million tiny carbon nanotubes, which is about the number of Americans who voted on November 4, according to John Hart at University of Michigan.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

[Bicoastal]

1. Barack Obama in a white afro?

[KittyWampus]

2. apparently when you're that small it's hard to do much color

[me b zola]

7. To honor the founders and their powdered wigs

:D

[quiet.american]

3. Get outta here! That is amazing. nt

[BrklynLiberal]

4. wow!!!

[MilesColtrane]

5. Each of those is about the width of seven human hairs.

Amazing.

[KittyWampus]

6. kick

[NoSheep]

8. How in the world is this done? Wait... I won't understand the explaination either.

WOW.

[n2doc]

9. basically you "paint" a surface with a material that promotes nanotube growth

Then you place that surface in an environment containing the chemical precursors to the nanotubes in vapor form. The nanotubes then form only in those areas which were "painted", and grow straight upwards. A little bit like crystal growth, but much more controlled and directional.

[NoSheep]

10. I'm with you so far. What "instrument" is small enough to control the

"paint"? I think that's where I get stuck. I'm not versed in anything smaller than I can see with my eye. Oh wait! Do you make the drawing on a computer in a size we can control and then have the computer tell the "paint" what to do on a nano-level? Reduce it to a size that is imperceptable to you and me, but recognized by a medium that operates on a nano-scale?

if you say no...I'll be very disappointed! A yes answer would mean to me you are a brilliant teacher who has just propelled me from the dark ages!

[n2doc]

11. It sort of works that way

There are literally ink jet like "printers" which can prepare the surface. There are also device which shoot metal ions from a type of gun, and can build up patterns of elements like a miniature spray gun. Computers control the patterns...and they can be a few atoms thick and a few atoms wide if need be!

[Posteritatis]

12. They're starting to play with single-atom scale too

Like those guys in Japan who wrote out the word "silicon" using three silicon atoms for the Is. I get a kick out of that just for the fact that it is, very likely, the smallest writing physically possible.

[n2doc]

13. I thought they did that with direct manipulation

Using an afm to move atoms around? Too slow for process stuff, but great at the little stuff!

[BumRushDaShow]

14. This is incredibly cool!