"Ross A. Finlayson" <RAF@tomco.net> writes:
> Well, as soon as it is possible to overcome the strong nuclear and repulsion
> matter could be formed into any other matter.
Perhaps. But this technology is far beyond nanotech, and modifying the strong force may not even be possible; we at least know atoms can be moved around, but we have no idea how to change the forces in the nucleus (except banging things into it at a high speed).
> If that is not possible (it is not likely to be possible any time soon), a
> couple of bags of rust would do.
Yes. Most likely a nanotech construction site would look like a pool of stuff from which the building would grow, with trucks pouring in stuff like iron oxide, sugar (for energy) and sand.
> Silicon possesses very similar qualities to carbon in terms of electron
> stability, and it would be likely that, for example, buckyballs and nanotubes
> could be made from silicon, as well as higher level structures like
> diamondoid structural building materials.
Isn't the Si-Si bond weaker than the C-C bond? The silicon fullerenes doesn't have to be stable. I can't recall if silicon even can form something like graphite sheets.
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