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| (Image from John Stoddard in Exile) |
"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!"
It completely astounds me
with all of the technologies we
have—which are just too
numerous to mention—that
we still don't know how to
create something so simple
as a totally sustainable engine...
...Although, I may just be
"behind the times," so to speak
(due to "the great burdens"
thrusted upon my shoulders),
but I think the glorious day has
finally arrived for us to build
these really cool nanomotors.
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Small All White in the Forest)
"I am no barrier to its sun; the light and I are as one!"
My Poetic Notes:
The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: "It completely astounds me, with all of the technologies we have—which are just too numerous to mention—that we still don't know how to create something so simple as a totally sustainable engine..."
You see, I discovered the article below regarding nanomotors when I was doing a Google search for an image to illustrate one of my blog posts. And I found the image above from the WordPress.com blog "John Stoddard in Exile," which is what introduced me to the LiveScience.com’s article below! (Please see the hyperlinks below for the above-mentioned article and blog post.)
And this poem was also published on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message that I am trying to convey through "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer."
This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com
"They're Tiny, They Run on Sunlight, Here Come The Nanomotors!" from John Stoddard in Exile:
"In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, news about a very, very small engine that runs without producing any waste. From LiveScience.com’s story (https://www.livescience.com/571-minuscule-motor-runs-sunlight.html):
Scientists have developed tiny four-stroke engines that run on sunlight.
The nanomotors—so small that 3.8 million of them lined up end-to-end would barely span the width of a penny—generate absolutely no waste.
Each little motor is just 5 nanometers in length, macaroni-like in shape, and has a ringed structure at one end that moves back-and-forth like the pistons under your car’s hood.
Energy, in the form of photons from sunlight, excites one end of the molecule, which sets off a four-step process. Electrons are transferred along the molecule until they reach the ring structure, causing it to slide 1.3 nanometers forward on the molecule.
As the electron continues its path, it reaches a section that recycles it back to the beginning. This causes the molecule to 'reset,' and the ring returns, piston-like, to its original position.
The whole process takes about 100 microseconds.
Each step is similar to the mechanical functions of the four-stroke engine that powers a car down the road—fuel injection and combustion, piston displacement, exhaust removal, and piston replacement.
Except in this case, the exhaust is an electron, not smog-producing pollutants. The molecule, called rotaxane, forms naturally. It’s also autonomous, meaning that it will continue operating as long as energy is available.
It can work with others, or function all by itself. It can be driven at high frequency, and in mild environmental conditions it is quite durable, staying stable for at least 1,000 cycles.
While the nanomotor is less efficient than some fuel-powered engines—it has an efficiency of only 2 to 12 percent—the researchers point out that it doesn’t need refueling and that sunlight is free."
https://johnstodderinexile.wordpress.com/2006/01/24/theyre-tiny-they-run-on-sunlight-here-come-the-nanomotors/
This "Small All White in the Forest" Post No. 101 was edited July 12th, 2024.
"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
