Ever wanted to cruise down a nanoscopic highway 1/20,000 the width of a human hair? Boy is today ever your lucky day - Read this article about the invention of a nano car! Some scientists at Rice University have developed a 'nano car' with a working engine. When light is shined upon the car 'molecule', there is a particle on the car that begins to turn in one direction. This nano-motor powers the nano car such that it moves off in a straight direction. Pretty wild technology!




http://www.jumphook.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cg...ions/index.html

Really cool ... now-could I have a big one of those please?

thats cool...very interesting~

For an "Atomic Car" to roll, and obey minimal physical laws, would this implies that Atoms are solid at some point? I taught it was only energy.

From what I understand. They are made up of only energy. But they are also "solid".

How do you define solid?

Meaning they can't pass through each other?

That's caused by electromagnetic fields of separate atoms not being able to pass through each other. which is the same reason that mass (a whole bunch of atoms) is a solid.

Nothing is solid or not solid. It is a question whether its atoms can carry ours or not. Mostly that is because the structure is more packed tan we are, we don't sink in or it is less packed and we do sink in. A good example is water. If you freeze it its structure gets denser and you can walk on the ice.

Yeah, I think a combination of what questionmark said and what I said above.

I was talking about atoms themselves not being able to go through each other.

I think Questionmark was talking about liquids and stuff which are materials in which you don't actually go through the atoms themselves any more than atoms in a solid object, but you can manage to force a path by pushing the atoms or molecules out of the way.