now THAT'S SMALL!!
Full Version: World's smallest guitar
"The guitar has six strings, each string about 50 nanometers wide, the width of about 100 atoms. If plucked -- by an atomic force microscope, for example -- the strings would resonate, but at inaudible frequencies. The entire structure is about 10 micrometers long, about the size of a single cell."
Cool Stuff... and from 1997 at that. What are they doing now, 7 years later?
Cool Stuff... and from 1997 at that. What are they doing now, 7 years later?
I dont know how big a micron is. Is it visible by the naked eye?
QUOTE
Strumming the strings of the world's smallest guitar requires more than just nimble fingers. Better factor in some deft laser work and a very attuned ear. Cornell University scientists crafted the blood-cell-size Stratocaster in 1997 using e-beam lithography on silicon wafers. But it took them seven years, and a new Gibson Flying V, to actually play a note. To do it, the scientists bounced focused laser light on the guitar's silicon "strings," causing them to vibrate and alter the light they reflect. The resulting "tunes" were screeched out in Es and As, 17 octaves above what a normal guitar produces. A wee xylophone and drum now round out the band. Scientists say these clever little research tools may help improve electronics: Energy-efficient nanorods, similar to the Gibson's "strings," could replace power-hogging quartz oscillators in wireless devices.
QUOTE(RedLine @ Feb 11 2004, 11:59 AM)
I dont know how big a micron is. Is it visible by the naked eye?
i think its 1 millionth of a meter
It's one billionth, actually.
Micrometer = one millionth
Micrometer = one millionth
That stuff is soo cool... 
I love that small art!!
I love that small art!!
so...does that mean that a normal guitar is just art? 
QUOTE(Xenocyde @ Feb 11 2004, 04:28 PM)
so...does that mean that a normal guitar is just art?
Yes.
functional art, like a guitar or car of course, you mean?
QUOTE(Xenocyde @ Feb 11 2004, 04:59 PM)
functional art, like a guitar or car of course, you mean?
Sure...
hoo hoo...i worded that wierd...
i think that jarble is supposed to say, "like functional art, a Car or a Guitar? You mean?"
i think that jarble is supposed to say, "like functional art, a Car or a Guitar? You mean?"
thats pretty damn small.. soon our cell phones will probably be that size
QUOTE(5LiterMustang @ Feb 11 2004, 04:58 PM)
thats pretty damn small.. soon our cell phones will probably be that size
And their ringtones will be outside of our hearing range
they'll probably start a new band "The Nanobots" or something and use those instruments 
QUOTE(RedLine @ Feb 11 2004, 02:59 PM)
I dont know how big a micron is. Is it visible by the naked eye?
A micron is probably impossible to see. I can distinguish 50 micron lines but that's about as small as I could see.
Dustin Carr is also responsible for the infamous phrase "Deadlines and electrons don't mix" which we had put on our scanning electron microscope.
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