Welcome to the engineering section of my web page. Here, you will find all the information about the different fields of nanotechnology, which have an important rule in the future of nanotechnology and the society we live in. Most of the information has been provided by me after researching each field extensively, however, the information that is provided to me has been referenced.

Molecular Engineering is the binding of molecules to make complex structures that perform sophisticated functions (e.g. DNA). Molecules bind with each other by recognizing each others chemical and physical properties. Thus, creating machines that are both smart and efficient in "self assembly." (Note: Molecular manufacturing, molecular nanotechnology, and molecular engineering are all used interchangeably.)

The term "self assembly" mentioned above has to do with the structure that molecules form. Self assembly means the ability for molecules to arrange themselves in order without any assistance from scientists. Self assembly is tough to implement because in order to achieve this, molecules have to be able to recognize their neighbors physical and chemical properties.

All of the concepts discussed above are the keys for unlocking the future of Molecular Engineering. Currently though, Molecular Engineering is at the research phase, all the images shown on the left hand part of the screen are all computational images. There are only a few products that have been molecularly manufactured, but it won't be for some time until we see huge scaled products being manufactured through the implementation of self assembly. (Description for the image to the right hand part of the screen: Nanofactories will use specialized machinery to mass-produce small parts. Here, a belt carrying molecular tools (moving from left to right, above) meets a belt carrying cylindrical parts. Each tool adds a single atom (shown striped) to a precise location on each part. In later steps, a nanofactory will assemble small parts into larger products using tiny robotic arms that work much like the larger robotic arms in modern factories.) [1]

A better way to in vision self assembly is to use Mark Ratner and Daniel Ratner's idea:

"One way to imagine self-assembly is to imagine a compass. If you shake it, you can cause the needle to fluctuate and point in almost any direction for an instant, but once you stop shaking it, the needle will ultimately reorient itself and point from south to north. There is a small magnet in the needle, and this south-to-north orientation minimizes it's energy with respect to earth's magnetic field. You don't need to do any work on the needle to get it to do this. It does it naturally. Self-assembly techniques are based on the idea of making components that, like our compass needle, naturally organize themselves the way we want them to." [2]

Click Here to see a short presentation on Molecular Engineering.

References:

[1] - Foresight Institute Preparing for Nanotechnology - provides news, events, and discussions relating to nanotechnology. (Both the image and the description were provided by Foresight.)

[2] - Ratner, Mark and Daniel. "Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea." (Quote: pg 49, paragraph)