'What is your name?' 'Anders Sandberg.' 'IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!!!':
> "Sean Kenny" <sean@irvken.free-online.co.uk> writes:
>
> > I'm probably showing my ignorance but the Nobel prize for Chemistry went =
> > today to Ahmed Zewail for his development of the new discipline of =
> > Femtochemistry. As it's not something I've heard or read about before, =
> > an easily excited fellow like myself gets a shiver up my spine imagining =
> > that this might be the development that speeds the development of =
> > nanotechnology.
>
> It is about very fast chemical reactions, which take on the order of
> femtoseconds. It is partially relevant to nanotech, because we need to
> understand the dynamics of molecules better to build nanodevices.
For the curious, check out http://www.nobel.se/announcement-99/
The description of the 1999 Nobel Prize for Chemistry is quite readable. The idea is that by using femtosecond imaging, you can see what various molecules look like in their transition states, which are generally pretty short, no matter how fast the reaction is kinetically speaking.
-Dan
-unless you love someone-
-nothing else makes any sense-
e.e. cummings