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The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a
The most complex nanoscale molecular machines are proteins found within cells, often in the form of Protein complex, multi-protein complexes. Some biological machines are motor proteins, such as myosin, which is responsible for muscle contraction, kinesin, which moves cargo inside cells away from the Cell nucleus, nucleus along microtubules, and dynein, which moves cargo inside cells towards the nucleus and produces the axonemal beating of cilia#Motile cilia, motile cilia and flagella. "In effect, the [motile cilium] is a nanomachine composed of perhaps over 600 proteins in molecular complexes, many of which also function independently as nanomachines." "Flexible linkers allow the Protein domain#Domains and protein flexibility, mobile protein domains connected by them to recruit their binding partners and induce long-range allostery via Protein dynamics#Global flexibility: multiple domains, protein domain dynamics." Other biological machines are responsible for energy production, for example ATP synthase which harnesses energy from Proton-motive force, proton gradients across membranes to drive a turbine-like motion used to synthesise Adenosine triphosphate, ATP, the energy currency of a cell. Still other machines are responsible for gene expression, including DNA polymerases for replicating DNA, RNA polymerases for producing Messenger RNA, mRNA, the spliceosome for removing introns, and the ribosome for Protein synthesis, synthesising proteins. These machines and their protein dynamics, nanoscale dynamics are far more complex than any molecular machines that have yet been artificially constructed.
The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale
In physics, length scale is a particular length or distance determined with the precision of at most a few orders of magnitude. The concept of length scale is particularly important because physical phenomena of different length scales cannot aff ...
applicable to nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
, usually cited as 1–100 nanometer
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re, ...
s (nm). A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. The nanoscopic scale is (roughly speaking) a lower bound to the mesoscopic scale
Mesoscopic physics is a subdiscipline of condensed matter physics that deals with materials of an intermediate size. These materials range in size between the nanoscale for a quantity of atoms (such as a molecule) and of materials measuring mic ...
for most solids.
For technical purposes, the nanoscopic scale is the size at which fluctuations in the averaged properties (due to the motion and behavior of individual particles) begin to have a significant effect (often a few percent) on the behavior of a system, and must be taken into account in its analysis.
The nanoscopic scale is sometimes marked as the point where the properties of a material change; above this point, the properties of a material are caused by 'bulk' or 'volume' effects, namely which atoms are present, how they are bonded, and in what ratios. Below this point, the properties of a material change, and while the type of atoms present and their relative orientations are still important, 'surface area effects' (also referred to as quantum effects
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...
) become more apparent – these effects are due to the geometry of the material (how thick it is, how wide it is, etc.), which, at these low dimensions, can have a drastic effect on quantized states, and thus the properties of a material.
On October 8, 2014, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Eric Betzig, William Moerner and Stefan Hell for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy", which brings "optical microscopy into the nanodimension". Super resolution imaging helped define the nanoscopic process of substrate presentation.
Nanoscale machines
The most complex nanoscale molecular machines are proteins found within cells, often in the form of Protein complex, multi-protein complexes. Some biological machines are motor proteins, such as myosin, which is responsible for muscle contraction, kinesin, which moves cargo inside cells away from the Cell nucleus, nucleus along microtubules, and dynein, which moves cargo inside cells towards the nucleus and produces the axonemal beating of cilia#Motile cilia, motile cilia and flagella. "In effect, the [motile cilium] is a nanomachine composed of perhaps over 600 proteins in molecular complexes, many of which also function independently as nanomachines." "Flexible linkers allow the Protein domain#Domains and protein flexibility, mobile protein domains connected by them to recruit their binding partners and induce long-range allostery via Protein dynamics#Global flexibility: multiple domains, protein domain dynamics." Other biological machines are responsible for energy production, for example ATP synthase which harnesses energy from Proton-motive force, proton gradients across membranes to drive a turbine-like motion used to synthesise Adenosine triphosphate, ATP, the energy currency of a cell. Still other machines are responsible for gene expression, including DNA polymerases for replicating DNA, RNA polymerases for producing Messenger RNA, mRNA, the spliceosome for removing introns, and the ribosome for Protein synthesis, synthesising proteins. These machines and their protein dynamics, nanoscale dynamics are far more complex than any molecular machines that have yet been artificially constructed.
Nanotechnology
Nanomachines
Nanomedicine
See also
*Center for Probing the Nanoscale *Center for Nanoscale MaterialsReferences