If you don’t follow the latest news regarding technological advancements, how will you ever know some of the inventive items available for your use? There are many products that are created that don’t hit the mainstream because they do not fit into some of the frequently used items in the public. Keeping abreast in the changes associated with technology allows you to understand the power and capabilities of science and other realms that test the limits of human creativity. In this article, we will explore the ins and outs of an extremely small pair of scissors.
To start of, you might not care that the smallest pair of scissors in the world have been created. You may think that you don’t need a pair that small to cut any paper, but you wouldn’t even be able to control this invention with your fingers , this molecular sample is opened and closed through the use of light. Japanese scientists have constructed the small pair of scissors in hopes to further scientific and medical exploration of the body.
The small scissors have the ability to control genes, proteins, as well as additional molecules found in the body. The size of the invention is unimaginable , who ever heard of a nanometer? The scissors measure only three nanometers, or to put the length into perspective – billionths of a meter. This makes the pair more than 100 times smaller than a wavelength of violet light. It is a measurement that is truly hard to grasp.
Despite its small stature, the pair of scissors still showcases handles, a pivot, and blades. One of the first times the find was revealed to others took place in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society. So, what are the materials used to fashion such a small pair of scissors? The blades are made of carbon and hydrogen rings, also referred to as phynyl groups.
The pivot is fashioned from a molecule that has been given the name, chiral ferrocene. This is an essential part of the construction, which is needed to contain a round iron atom located between two carbon plates. As for the handles, they are made from organic chemical structures known as phenylene groups. It is the connection with azobenzene that allows the molecule to response to light. As visible light makes contact with the scissors, the azobenzene expands and makes the handles shift apart. The clipper blades then close and to create the opposite effect, ultraviolet rays are shined onto the pair of shears.
The same researchers that created the small scissors are now interested in making a larger pair that will have the capacity to become manipulated without light. So, the next time you go to the hospital for surgery, you never know when you’ll have the help of an extremely small pair of scissors. This latest invention might just be small enough to save lives when it comes to extremely delicate situations.