A Length Units Conversion Applet - version 1.0
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Umberto Ravaioli
The Length Conversion Calculator applet provides an interactive way to explore the numerical relationships between length units in the Metric system and in the British/USA system, and it is designed to provide an appreciation of orders of magnitude for the different units through a visual hands-on approach. This applet is written in JAVA 2.0 and it will run on any recent web browser with the appropriate Java plug-in installed....
A Wavelength Calculator Applet - version 2.0
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Umberto Ravaioli
The Wavelength Calculator applet provides an interactive way to explore the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation and evaluate the wavelength by varying the frequency. This applet is written in JAVA 2.0 and it will run on any recent web browser with the appropriate Java plug-in installed....
Band Structure of Carbon Nanotubes in a Perpendicular Electric Field - Version 2.0
Submitted on 04-JAN-07
Contributed by Umberto Ravaioli
This interactive simulator performs band structure calculations for zigzag and armchair type carbon nanotubes (CNT) using the nearest-neighbor tight-binding method with a hopping potential of ? 2.5eV. Effects of curvature are not included in the model. A uniform electric field perpendicular to the axis can be applied, causing degenerate eigenvalues to split (Stark effect)......
Copper Nanowire Formation through Electrodeposition
Submitted on 11-JUN-07
Contributed by Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Mitsuko Fujiwara, Richard Braatz
Metal nanostructures with minimum dimensions in the tens of nanometers are used to transport electrons between components in nano- and microelectronic devices. This interactive software simulates the mechanism by which copper nanostructures are manufactured through electrodeposition, by using the kinetic Monte Carlo simulation method. The goal is for students to design a highly uniform copper nanostructure by varying parameters associated with transport of the copper ions to the solid-liquid int...
Cube Building - Interactive Computational Animations on Nanomaterials
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Richard Braatz, Mitsuko Fujiwara, Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Valerie Maynard
This animation introduces the importance of surface area to volume ratio in nanoconcept. As bigger cubes are built, the SA/V ratio decreases. Smaller particles have higher SA/V ratio, which is an importance property for many chemical processes....
Detection of Surface Plasmon Waves
Submitted on 02-MAY-06
Contributed by Maxim Sukharev, Tamar Seideman
Surface plasmon waves are charge density waves occurring at an interface between a thin metallic film and an insulator medium. Two conditions are needed for the excitation of plasmon waves: The dielectric constant of the non-metal medium should be real and positive; The real part of the metal dielectric constant should be negative and its absolute value should be greater than its imaginary part; The wave can be thought of as having a section in the thin film and a section out of the film, at the...
Diffraction by a Metal Nanoparticle
Submitted on 28-MAR-08
Contributed by Umberto Ravaioli, Maxim Sukharev, Hyung-Seok Hahm, Tamar Seideman
Interactive Java applet based on exact numerical integrations of Maxwell equations simulates interaction of external electromagnetic radiation with a metal nanoparticle. User may change various parameters such as incident wavelength, size of nanoparticle, material of nanoparticle (silver, gold, or perfect electric conductor). At some certain physical parameters nanoparticle exhibits strong scattering/absorption of electromagnetic energy via excitation of localized surface plasmons....
Diffraction, Interference and Young's Double Slit Experiment
Submitted on 02-MAY-06
Contributed by Boyang Liu, Seng-tiong Ho
Plane waves of light incident on screens with single slits and double slits are classic examples used to illustrate diffraction and interference effects in light waves. This simple educational tool simulates these double slit experiments for a variety of parameters such as, different slit size, different silt distance and incident light wavelength. The simulation is in the nanoscale......
Gold Nanoparticles - Interactive Computational Animations on Nanomaterials
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Richard Braatz, Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Mitsuko Fujiwara, Valerie Maynard
This animation describes the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles and how they are different from the common gold such as gold jewellery. ...
Insights in Nanomedicine: Fighting Cancer with Gold Nanoshells
Submitted on 02-APR-08
Contributed by John Ireland, Maxim Sukharev, Tamar Seideman, Umberto Ravaioli, Hyung-Seok Hahm, Richard Braatz, Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Mitsuko Fujiwara
The potential benefit of nanoscale science and engineering in our lives is clearly seen with the development of gold nanoshells. These nanostructures have promising applications in imaging and destroying cancer cells with much more finesse than current methods such as chemotherapy. The web guide looks to explain more about how nanoshells are fabricated, and how they can be used to image and target cancer. This NCLT website was created in part to serve as a guide for visitors to NISE nanomedine e...
Interactive java applet: Interaction of electromagnetic plane wave and nanoscale silver metal film with subwavelength slit
Submitted on 16-APR-07
Contributed by Umberto Ravaioli, Maxim Sukharev, Tamar Seideman
This interactive java applet, based upon an exact solution of Maxwell equations on a grid, illustrates the dynamics of light-matter interactions in the nanoscale. An electromagnetic plane wave is generated on the left side of the film (see figure below) and propagated in the x-direction. The metallic film is simulated by the Drude model with a material dispersion......
Nanocos: The Card Game of Nanotechnology Concepts
Submitted on 17-JAN-07
Contributed by
Nanocos is a highly interactive card game that encourages students to learn important science concepts and their role at the nanoscale. Combining both the entertainment of popular card games with the educational value of nano-concepts, Nanocos will appeal to both students and educators alike. Contained within each attractively-decorated card is a scientific concept that forms the basis of modern nanotechnology. Because of the varying levels of complexity that unfold during each game, students wi...
Nanomagnetism
Submitted on 30-JUN-06
Contributed by Kirill Rivkin, John Ketterson
This course can be considered an introduction into the world of applied magnetics, more specifically - into the world of nanoscale magnetic devices that are currently used for the information storage. We will start in the first Chapter, "Magnetic Dipoles" with a small refresher of electro and magnetostatics. In the second Chaper, "From Macro to Nano" we will show the transition from macroscopic phenomena, such as planetary magnetism, to the physics of nanoscale ensembles of magnetic particles. I...
Nanopattern formation of two dimensional weakly charged telechelic gels by self-assembly
Submitted on 28-MAR-08
Contributed by Dongsheng Zhang, Monica Olvera de la Cruz
This project has shown the nanopattern formation of two dimensional weakly charged telechelic gels by self-assembly. We find that the gel will be swollen when the attraction between hydrophobic backbones in the gel are weak (such as the strength of attraction ε = 1.0 KBT), because the electrostatic repulsion dominates, As the Van der Waals attraction increases, the polymer gel will shrink and when it is balanced with the electrostatic repulsion, different sizes of nanopatterns...
Nanopatterning: The science of making things small from the top-down
Submitted on 11-SEP-08
Contributed by Christina Sweeney, Teri Odom
We have developed two Nanopatterning activities, replica molding and microcontact printing and etching, which illustrate top-down fabrication methods. Replica molding uses stamps generated from the nano-sized features of an Au-CD to replicate relief structures in photo or thermally curable polymeric material. Microcontact printing and etching uses self-assembled monolayers of hydrophobic thiols as etch resist to fabricate square or diamond shaped pads on Au-CD substrates. Our methods use cheap...
Nanoscale Patterning: Top-down meets Bottom-up
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Teri Odom
An introduction to nanoscale science and technology with an emphasis on nanofabrication, chemical synthesis, and simple devices. The lab component involves training on scanning probe and electron microscopes and bench-top nanoscale patterning experiments....
Optical Tweezers for High School and College Students
Submitted on 25-JUN-08
Contributed by Weiqiang Mu, John Ketterson
The module explains the physics underlying laser tweezers and its applications to trap arrays and separate particles....
Photocatalysis Reactions of Titanium Dioxide -
Interactive Computational Animations on Nanomaterials
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Richard Braatz, Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Mitsuko Fujiwara, Valerie Maynard
Many toxic chemicals can be broken down by adding titanium dioxide nanoparticles and exposing the mixture to sunlight. This animation explores this process, which is known as photocatalysis...
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Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue by Titanium Dioxide -
Interactive Computational Animations on Nanomaterials
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Richard Braatz, Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Mitsuko Fujiwara, Valerie Maynard
When titanium dioxide is illuminated with UV light, its electrons are excited to higher energy levels where they can interact with organic chemicals such as methylene blue. The interaction degrades the methylene blye molecules causing its blue color to disappear. This process is called ?photocatalysis? and has applications in medicine, energy, and environment. This animation introduces the concept of photocatalysis and step involved in the process....
Photonic Band Gap
Submitted on 02-MAY-06
Contributed by Boyang Liu, Seng-tiong Ho
Photonic band gap (PBG) materials are crystalline structures that exclude light transmission in all directions for specific wavelength ranges, just as semiconductors exclude electron propagation for certain energy bands. It could be achieved by the creation of a periodicity in the refractive indices of dielectric materials......
Superabsorbent Polymer - Interactive Computational Animations on Nanomaterials
Submitted on 14-NOV-06
Contributed by Richard Braatz, Limay Goh, Effendi Rusli, Mitsuko Fujiwara, Valerie Maynard
Superabsorbent polymers (SAP) are large chain-like molecules that can absorb water up to thousands of times their own weight. Their ability to absorb is strongly related to the surface area of the polymer that is in contact with water. The surface area depends on the polymer particles size. Fine particles result in larger area than coarse particles. ...
Young's Double-slit Experiment in the Nanoworld
Submitted on 28-MAR-08
Contributed by Maxim Sukharev, Tamar Seideman
Simulations of Young's double-slit experiment for thin metal films with nano-scaled slits show basic concepts of interference and diffraction of electromagnetic waves beoynd the diffraction limit, i.e. when the incident wavelength is much larger than a characteristic size of material system. In these simulations users may determine specific conditions, at which conventional double-slit experiment does not produce interference patterns. The latter is related to optical transparency of metal that ...
