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♤ Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is a technology based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis. This is distinct from nanoscale materials.
♤ MNT would involve combining physical principles demonstrated by chemistry, other nanotechnologies, and the molecular machinery of life with the systems engineering principles found in modern macroscale factories.
♤ It is an anticipated manufacturing technology that would allow precise control and positional assembly of molecule-sized building blocks through the use of nano-scale manipulator arms. Molecular nanotechnology is usually considered distinct from the more inclusive term "nanotechnology", which is now used to refer to a wide range of scientific or technological projects that focus on phenomena or properties of the nanometer scale (around 0.1-100nm). Nanotechnology is already a blossoming field, but molecular nanotechnology — the goal of productive, molecular-scale machine systems — is still in the preliminary research stage.
♤ Its projected applications are- Smart materials and nanosensors, Replicating nanorobots, Medical nanorobots, Utility frog, Phased array optics.
♤ Molecular nanotechnologywill let us continue the historical trends in manufacturing right up to the fundamental limits imposed by physical law. It will let us make remarkably powerful molecular computers. It will let us make materials over fifty times lighter than steel or aluminium alloy but with the
same strength. We'll be able to make jets, rockets, cars or even chairs that, by today's standards, would be remarkably light, strong, and inexpensive. Molecular surgical tools, guided by molecular computers and injected into the blood stream could find and destroy cancer cells or invading bacteria, unclog arteries, or provide oxygen when the circulation is impaired.