Assembling a Cake. Self Assembly e.g. of two-ended molecules in water Polar ends are attracted to water Molecules spontaneously organize themselves into.

Assembling a Cake

Self Assemblye.g. of two-ended molecules in water

Polar ends are attracted to water

Molecules spontaneously organize themselves into a pattern

water

Example of Self-Assembly

Balls could be organized into triangles by an external agent, a player

Or: punch holes in desired pattern, roll a stream of balls over the board, and …Demo.

Self Assembly

Shake

Application to Manufacturing

RFID:Radio Frequency Identification Device

e.g ID’s in clothes automatically read by antenna as person walks out of store

100’s of microns

Successor to bar codes on supermarket items

and nanotechnology

RFID’s are manufactured on silicon wafers,The wafer is diced and now you have a pile of small RFID’s.

Expensive machines can separate them .Cheaper: self assembly using a fluid

RFID’s, in a fluid flowing over a bed with holes in it, collect in the holes

Voila! A regular, self-assembled array of RFID’s, each of which can be picked up and placed on the item to be identified (e.g. a dress)

Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA)

Videohttp://www.alientechnology.com/

Ideas for Activities

Fluidic self assembly (FSA):

Roll a stream of balls over a board with a rectangular array of holes drilled into it (as in the video). Board could be a peg board with two pieces of wood nailed to it to serve as walls defining a channel. A Chinese Checker board would also do well. Balls could be from a Chinese Checker game, or ball bearings. An advantage of drilling your own holes is that they could be drilled in a pattern, such as a student’s name, or a smiley face.

http://www.alientechnology.com/technology/fsa_manufacturing.php

Link to page with video: