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World's thinnest wire a quantum leap forward
Nicky Phillips
January 6, 2012 - 6:54AM
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Down to the atomic wire
Sydney physicists have created the world's narrowest conducting wire - just four atoms wide and one atom tall.
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SYDNEY physicists have invented the world's narrowest silicon wire – 10,000 times thinner than a human hair – with the same capacity to conduct electricity as a traditional copper wire.

The nanowire, four atoms wide and one atom high, is a significant advancement for the team, which is part of an international race to build the world's first quantum computer.

These super-fast and super-powerful devices will be able to compute enormous amounts of data in seconds, calculations that would take today's computers years, even decades.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/techn...k.html#ixzz1iekhklGi

[This message has been edited by proff (edited 01-06-2012).]

silicon is not a conductor though, I wonder if the to outter atoms are silicon and the inner atoms are copper.

I have a feeling nano engineering is around the corner. You'll see things built atom by atom so every part, engine block or electronic piece is basicly a clone of the master copy

quote Originally posted by Niterrorz: silicon is not a conductor though, I wonder if the to outter atoms are silicon and the inner atoms are copper. I have a feeling nano engineering is around the corner. You'll see things built atom by atom so every part, engine block or electronic piece is basicly a clone of the master copy

I agree
Silicon will offer a resistance when used with other materials

My guess is the government would heavily monitor and restrict the development of these computers. I read some time back about the development of these quantum computers and the technology is incredible, totally sci-fi stuff. They have two different types, one is biological, where they found they can cause strands of DNA to expand and contract by exposing it to some kind of enzyme. Then the nano based computer, which is probably where we'll end up. Current technology is based on ones and zeros, as all of the billions and billions of switches that make up a computer can only be in one state or another, off or on. The nano based system, each of the switches can be in four positions at the same time!

A computer like that would be so fast it could decrypt our strongest encryption technologies in minutes. That's why I say the development of these systems will be closely monitored.

quote Originally posted by Niterrorz: . You'll see things built atom by atom so every part, engine block or electronic piece is basicly a clone of the master copy

Had a dream once. You use a machine to program this goop (sorta like sand), and it starts building whatever you program it to build. each piece knows where to go and what state it should end up as.
Thing they had that on Earth: final conflict...


You wouldn't want a building to 'forget" it's structure
or have someone basically 'derez' a building.