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Nanotechnology in Biology
Louie A. Baca, Jr. and Eric Hagedorn
Size and Measurement (Overview)
• Thought probing questions
asked to students to
introduce upcoming topic
– What is nano?
– What is a nanometer?
– How small is a nanometer?
Size and Measurement Overview
• Lecture: cell and cell
– introduction of new
concepts/awaken prior
• This lesson follows chapter
on measurements in the
district’s scope and sequence
• Students paired for size and
sort activity (size predictions
Activity 1: “How Small Am I?”
• Set of ten cards given to
students dealing with cell
structure as well as genetic
material and individual
• Examples: nucleus, virus, DNA
strand, ribosomes, endoplasmic
reticulum, eukaryotic cell, etc.
• Students will then put
objects in order from
smallest to largest and record
answers on data sheet
Activity 1: Continued
• Relative size will then be
determined given a standard to
compare to
– Example: compare the size of five of
the structures to that of the cell’s
nucleus (relative size provided)
• Results will be recorded in data
• Lecture following activity to
introduce how nano-sized objects
are measured (intro into
microscopes and microscopy)
• Nanotechnology is the manipulation of
matter at a scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.
• Using nanotechnology we can control
molecules at an atomic level and create
materials with unique properties.
• A nanometer is 10-9 (a billionth) of a
meter. The prefix nano is Greek for
• As a reference point, a hair is
approximately 100,000 nanometers.
• A red blood cell is approximately 10,000
• See diagram on the following slice and
images from,, and
Why is nanotechnology so important?
– Fundamentally the properties of
materials can be changed by
– We can arrange molecules in a
way that they do not normally
occur in nature.
– The material strength,
electronic and optical
properties of materials can all
be altered using
Manipulating Matter at the Nanoscale
Three methods
1. Pick them up and
move them
2. Pattern them
3. Use self-assembly
1. Pick Them Up
The tip of an AFM can be used to move a molecule
if you can figure out how to ‘pick up’ and then
release the molecule.
This is one of the more famous ‘real’ images of
In the mid-1980’s, IBM spelled their logo using
thirteen xenon atoms. Each atom was picked
up using an AFM tip and moved into place.
While the picture suggests a very nice stable
arrangement the atoms were in fact
continuously moving and the ‘letters’ were
short lived.
2. Lithography
• All nanometer sized electronic
components are made using a process
called lithography.
• Alois Senefelder of Munich discovered the
basic principle of lithography, “printing
on stone”, around 1798.
• It is based upon the notion that oil and
water do not mix.
• Photolithography involves using energy
(e.g., light or electrons) to change the
solubility of a material.
• Photolithography literally means lightstone-writing in Greek.
• An image can be produced on a surface
by drawing with light or electrons much
the same way that you might scratch
away the crayon on a scratch board
• Patterns can be made on a surface
by drawing with an oily substance
(like a crayon), and only where
the oily substance is not present
will a water-based ink adhere.
• You can also cover the entire
surface scribbling with a crayon
and then scratch away to ‘draw’
your pattern. Craft people call this
type of material scratch boards.
• The key in nanotechnology is to
‘draw’ with very fine resolution.
1. Ask if any students have a mechanical
pencil or a pen that has a specified line width.
– The finest mechanical pencils draw a line that is
0.5 millimeters. That is 500 microns or about
1,000 times wider than the wires inside of a
computer chip.
2. Ask the students to think of some process
that involves light and causes a chemical
– sun tanning
– photography. Both involve a chemical that is
changed by exposure to light.
3. Ask students to think about how both sun
tanning and photography work and discuss
the differences.
– Both involve a chemical change that is
triggered by light.
– sun tanning, the light is mostly ultraviolet and
the reaction involves cells that are stimulated
by sun light producing a pigment. The pigment,
melanin, is produced to protect cells against
damage due to sunlight.
– In photography, tiny silver crystals in the film
are reactive to different wavelengths of visible
light and produce the variety of colors
Back to nanotechnology and
• In nanotechnology we use
photolithography to transfer a pattern
from a ‘mask’ to a surface.
• We apply a special chemical called
‘photoresist’, which is sensitive to light,
onto the surface that we want to pattern.
• The mask is a stencil which allows the
light energy to pass through only certain
regions. So a pattern on a mask can be
transferred to a surface by passing light
or electrons through the mask.
• When the light or the electrons reach the
photoresist on the surface, the solubility
of the photoresist changes making it
easier or harder to wash away.
• What is left after washing is the threedimensional pattern that was originally
on the mask.
• It is transferred to the photoresist.
Scientists use photolithography to
make computer chips and other
devices that have very small
features, as small as 100
3. Self-assembly
Molecules self-assemble when
the forces between these
molecules are sufficient to
overcome entropy. Entropy is
what drives molecules to a
low energy state.
Ask students to think of an
example where molecules
arrange themselves into a
– Snow flakes
– Salt crystals
– Soap bubbles
Snowflakes and Salt Crystals
• Snowflakes form around nanoscale
particles of dirt that nucleate ice crystals.
As the temperature approaches the
freezing point of water, the hydrogen
bonds between water molecules arrange
the water into a crystal pattern that
• Salt will assemble to form crystals. Salt
crystals form as the salt molecules
arrange themselves while the water
evaporates. The bonds between the salt
molecules are strong enough to squeeze
out the water and arrange themselves to
form a crystal. The different geometries
of the salt molecules affect the shape of
the salt crystals, so the nanoscale
geometry affects the macroscale
appearance of the crystal.
Soap Bubbles
• Soap bubbles self-assemble. The soap
molecules form two layers that sandwich
a layer of water in between. This is
because the soap molecules have one end
that likes water and one that does not.
So the end that does not like water is on
the outside and the other end that likes
the water is on the inside. The soap forms
a monolayer on the inside and a
monolayer on the outside of the water.
Each layer of soap is a self-assembled
monolayer, a single layer of molecules
oriented in one direction. It is also
flexible, which results in changes in the
appearance (e.g., color, reflectivity) of
the soap bubble.
Self Assembly activity
Have students blow a soap bubble
and observe it.
• Why do the colors look like a rainbow?
White light is composed of all the visible
colors. The light passing through the
bubble creates a phenomenon called
interference. The colors in a bubble appear
because light is reflected from both the
inside and the outside of the bubble at the
same time. The bubble is so thin that the
light reflected from the outside is either
enhanced or canceled out by the light
reflected from the inside. When the two
sets of reflected waves are combined, they
can remove or reinforce various
wavelengths of light thus enhancing some
colors and suppressing others.
• All of this happens because the distance
between the outer and inner layer of the
bubble is approximately 150 nanometers,
about 1/1,000 the width of a hair.
Schematic of Soap Bubble
• Figure 7. Soap bubble schematic,
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