NanoTech and Art

    This week we talk about nanotechnology and art. Before, I barely make any connection of nanotechnology with my daily life because I can't see things in a nano scale, but actually we are all exposed to the nano world, which is also a world of art. After this week's lecture, I'm surprised by the beauty of the nano world.

    Let's first look at the spherical fullerene which is also called buckyball because it resembles soccer. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure. The amazing structure contains 32 faces with 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons that satisfies isolated pentagon rule in mathematic aspect. On the other hand, the sophisticated structure is in a nano scale which is the scale of 10^-9 meters! We can see the relationship between nano scale and normal scale in reality with geodesic dome structure popularized by architect Richard Buckminster Fuller. It is extremely strong for its weight and has the largest volume with the least surface area. The geodesic dome is also envisioned to be used in all types of structure like houses, cars and museums. Once again, nano structure is not only closely related to mathematics but also to art.
 
    In addition, I'm impressed by how particle's properties will change in a nano scale. Nanoscale gold illustrates the unique properties that occur at the nanoscale. Nanoscale gold particles are not the yellow color which we are familiar but appear to be red or purple. Such property is shown even in some ancient materials such as the British Lycurgus cup, which changes color from the opaque green cup to a glowing translucent red when light is shone through it. Also, the size and optical properties can be put to practical use. For instance, the nanoscale gold particles selectively accumulate in tumors where they can enable both precise imaging and targeted laser destruction of the tumor by means that avoid harming healthy cells. This nanotechnology reminds me that the topic of "MedTech and Art" several weeks ago.  
     Nanoscale world is an amazing field that is worth to be explored further, and nanotechnology not only appears anywhere in our daily life but also inspires people on artworks.

Work Cited

Gimzewski. James K. "Introduction to Nanotechnology for Artists" Youtube. Uconlineprogram, 21 May 2012. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7jM6-iqzzE>

Gimzewski. James K. "Introduction to Nanotechnology for Artists Part2" Youtube. Uconlineprogram, 21 May 2012. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEp6t0v-v9c>

"Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip as Medical Diagnostic Tool." Nanowiki. Tiddlywiki, 20 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 May 2015.
<http://nanowiki.info/#%5B%5BProgrammable%20Bio-Nano Chip%20as%20Medical%20Diagnostic%20Tool%5D%5D>

Gimzewski. James K. "Introduction to Nanotechnology for Artists Part4" Youtube. Uconlineprogram, 21 May 2012. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHCuZetAIhk>

"New nano particles make blood clots visible." Nanowiki. Tiddlywiki, 07 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 May 2015.<http://nanowiki.info/#%5B%5BNew%20nanoparticles%20make%20blood%20clots%20visible%5D%5D>