From Brownian Motors to Maxwell's Demon

[Kysmett]

What outcome, other than chemical transport across a medium, will this provide? 

[Charlie Brown ARN]

It's selective. The biologicals it is prepared for will be isolated. There may be alias materials that would need another process to sort.

Aloha, Charlie

[andreas_varesi]

Aeronometers are wheels of vanes used to measure wind speed regardless of direction. I expect that fraction of a micron scale aeronometers would work off the random movements of gas molecules. A cylinderical surface covered with very many vanes set to capture wind favoring one direction of axial rotation should rotate with great torque as a brownian motor. The opponents of this strategy argue that favorable vane surfaces always have anti favorable backsides on a real perimeter. Conical cup vanes may work. Someone should dare to try it.

It has already been tried, it works and was publicated at Science magazine:
The front cover of Science, July 24, 1998 featured an unexpected result from Esprit's NANOWIRES project - a molecular wheel, spinning at very high speed. Designed and synthesised by IBM Zurich and CEMES, this self-docking molecule - hexa-butyl decacyclene (or HB-DC) - is propeller-shaped and has a diameter of about 1.75 nanometres. "We were studying molecular switches, using a voltage pulse from an STM tip to trigger a reversible change in HB-DC," recalls James Gimzweski, in charge of nano-engineering at IBM Zurich. "One day we saw a ring where a molecule should have been, and eventually figured out that we were looking at a molecule of HB-DC spinning at a fantastic rate."... The thermal energy at room temperature was enough to get the molecule spinning.
More info you can find here: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/rtdinf21/en/dossier2.html

Regards

Andreas Varesi

[Charlie Brown ARN]

10-4. WONDERFUL.? Now we have perpetually spinning molecules. The next step in this research thread is to connect a number of propeller units pole to pole into a cylinder of many vanes to increase the torque. Each vane is a mechanical rectifier.? ?

With drill bits on them - don't swallow them.

Andreas Varesi: May I reprint your post?

Aloha, Charlie

[andreas_varesi]

10-4. WONDERFUL.? Now we have perpetually spinning molecules. The next step in this research thread is to connect a number of propeller units pole to pole into a cylinder of many vanes to increase the torque. Each vane is a mechanical rectifier.? ?

The main question is, who can do this? Only the laboratory of a university or of a big company. If we ask them, they will ignore us - that's the sad reality.

Andreas Varesi: May I reprint your post?

It's a pleasure to me.

Regards
Andreas