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ERIC Number: EJ1443341
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023-Mar
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: EISSN-1938-1328
Available Date: N/A
Nano, Bits, and Feynman's Dream: There's Plenty of Room at the (Molecular) Bottom
Cedric Loretan; Andreas Mu¨ller
Journal of Chemical Education, v100 n3 p1366-1370 2023
The activity presented here is about an approximate or order-of-magnitude approach to information technology on the nano level, dealing in particular with the genetic code. Based on "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", the famous and visionary paper by Richard Feynman, the activity provides insight into a core concept of nanoscience and technology (NST): "information" and the extremely high information density in human DNA as a natural example of a nanostructure. Specifically, students calculate several estimates from Feynman's paper, using elementary knowledge about the chemical structure of DNA and basic mathematics. The activity is appropriate for upper high-school and early undergraduate students and nonmajor courses.
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Secondary Education; High Schools; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A