It is almost dinnertime and your family decides they want
to eat a pepperoni pizza. You tell your kitchen oven
computer that you want a pepperoni pizza, then a list of the
ingredients appears on the screen. Perhaps you decide to add
mushrooms, so you type in mushrooms, then hit enter. Ten
minutes later, a bell rings, and the oven computer announces
that dinner is ready. You take the hot pepperoni pizza out
of the oven and serve it to your family. Is there anything
strange about this scene? Where did the ingredients for the
pizza come from? If scientists studying nanotechnology are
correct, in the near future our food will be created out of
atoms and molecules instead of being cultivated on farms.
Once we know the molecular structure of pepperoni pizza, we
can use available atoms and molecules to build a pizza
whenever we want. Nanotechnology is another name for
molecular manufacturing - the science in which things are
built one atom or molecule at a time. Nanotechnology
proposes the construction of molecular devices that will
have the ability to manipulate atoms individually and place
them exactly where needed to produce the desired result.
Scientists and researchers say this ability is almost here!
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Your job in this WebQuest is to explore the world of
nanotechnology. You will learn exactly how big a nanometer
is, and why nanotechnology is named for a nanometer. You
will find out what a nanobot is, and what materials it may
be made out of. You will learn why scientists think that
nanotechnology will cause a revolution in the manufacturing
and medical fields. You will also discover the applications
that scientists envision for nanotechnology. Finally you
will answer a set of questions to demonstrate what you have
learned about nanotechnology in your exploration.
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Look at the web sites given here to find the information
that will enable you to answer questions about
nanotechnology.
- Nanotechnology.
Visit this site for a brief introduction to the core
concepts of molecular nanotechnology. This site explains
how atoms and molecules can be put together to create
products on a tiny scale.
- What
is Nanotechnology? Go to this site to learn more
about how novel molecular devices will be able to place
atoms and molecules exactly where needed to produce the
desired structure. This site also lists the technical
processes that nanotechnology could improve.
- Nanobots
may be future of medicine. Visit this site
by USA Today.com to find out about nanobots, tiny robots
that may be used as microsurgical instruments, or as
microrobots that could be used to build other
microdevices. This site describes the materials that
nanobots could be made out of and how they might work.
- The
Institute of Nanotechnology. At this site you can
learn all about nanotechnology and its future
applications. Go to features and click on what is
nanotechnology to learn more about the activities at the
atom level.
- An
Overview of Nanotechnology. Visit this site for an
explanation of nanotechnology, and for descriptions of how
nanotechnology could be used in the future. Scroll down to
ribosomes to see how the assembly of proteins by ribosomes
in a cell is similar to the way scientists think
nanotechnology will work.
- Nanotechnology
Database. This is a site designed to
present up-to-date sources of information on
nanotechnology. Click on academic to find a list of
universities that are conducting research in
nanotechnology. Click on individual programs to see what
types of research are being done.
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1 class period for research and answering the set of
questions
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Read through the following set of questions before you
begin your Internet research. As you explore each site, look
for answers to the questions.
Questions about Exploring
Nanotechnology
- How big is a nanometer?
- What is the primary goal of early nanotechnology?
- What is a nanobot? What materials could a nanobot be
made out of?
- How would a nanobot manipulate atoms and molecules?
- Make a list of ten items that nanotechnology could
improve upon.
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In the process of completing this WebQuest, you've become
informed about a new technology called nanotechnology and
about its possible uses. You have learned that
nanotechnology may result in improvements in manufacturing,
food production, and medicine. You have developed research
skills as you explored the web sites given, and identified
the relevant information to answer the set of questions
above. Do you think nanotechnology is going to play an
important role in the future? How important do you think it
is for scientists to continue to research
nanotechnology?
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