Study of volcanoes in the outer solar system produces unexpected bonus for nanotechnology
Thursday, February 10, 2011 - 21:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Mysterious expanding ice crystals in the moons of Saturn and Neptune may be of interest to future developers of microelectronics. Neutron scattering has discovered that methanol crystals that may be found in outer solar system ‘ice lavas’ have unusual expansion properties. The unexpected finding by a planetary geologist will interest developers of ‘nano-switches’ – single atom thick valves used in ‘micro-electronics’ at the nano scale.