Anyone for a far transuranic?
Sunday, February 15th, 2004 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lethargic_manI've just been reading the Programmable Matter FAQ (the Programmable Matter Corporation being a wholly-owned subsidiary of an aerospace research corporation.)
The FAQ was written by Wil McCarthy, an aerospace engineer, science writer and science fiction writer. It was slightly odd to be reading a FAQ about a serious nanotech research company where references were to stories in science fiction magazines in it, but hey. :o)
Some simple forms of programmable matter exist now; examples the FAQ gives include LCD screens and the quantum wells in solid state lasers. However most of the examples it gives, up to and including utility fog don't exist yet, and in many cases are science fiction (which is to say, tomorrow's technology reported today).
What made me boggle and want to post this here, though, was when I reached:
All quoted content © the Programmable Matter Corporation
The FAQ was written by Wil McCarthy, an aerospace engineer, science writer and science fiction writer. It was slightly odd to be reading a FAQ about a serious nanotech research company where references were to stories in science fiction magazines in it, but hey. :o)
Some simple forms of programmable matter exist now; examples the FAQ gives include LCD screens and the quantum wells in solid state lasers. However most of the examples it gives, up to and including utility fog don't exist yet, and in many cases are science fiction (which is to say, tomorrow's technology reported today).
What made me boggle and want to post this here, though, was when I reached:
- Can programmable matter mimic the substances on the periodic table?
Yes; artificial atoms can easily be constructed which mimic the properties of any natural atom, except that they are larger and their electrons are bound more loosely. [...]
- Can programmable matter mimic transuranic elements?
Yes. An artificial atom can contain any number of electrons, from 1 to over 1000. The form and properties of highly transuranic atoms (atomic number >> 92) are dramatically different from those of natural atoms.
All quoted content © the Programmable Matter Corporation
