Nano-Engineering in Science and Technology: An Introduction to the World of Nano-Design (Series on the Foundations of Natural Science and Technology) (Hardcover)

by Michael Rieth (Author) "Today, nanotechnology is still at the beginning, and only rudimentary nanostructures can be created with some control..." (more)
Key Phrases: aluminium clusters, generalized phonon density, pair potential approximation, Monte Carlo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Nano-Engineering in Science and Technology demonstrates that when it comes to atomic-scale design, no job is too small. -- Library of Science, 2003

Product Description
This important book provides a vivid introduction to the procedures, techniques, problems and difficulties of computational nano-engineering and design. The reader is given step by step the scientific background information, for an easy reconstruction of the explanations. The focus is laid on the molecular dynamics method, which is well suited for explaining the topic to the reader with just a basic knowledge of physics. Results and conclusions of detailed nano-engineering studies are presented in an instructive style. In summary, the book puts readers immediately in a position to take their first steps in the field of computational nano-engineering and design.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: World Scientific Pub Co Inc (January 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9812380736
• ISBN-13: 978-9812380739
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,052,907 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting for the principles - not the actual examples, June 10, 2003

By	James Ryley "jamesriii" (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book centers around computational methods of assessing the behavior of nano-scale constructs, making the point that, at least with the materials he chose to investigate, the behaviors seen are not intuitive. A variety of different algorithms are examined for molecular dynamics computations, and the pros and cons (faster versus more accurate) are discussed.

The downside to this book, as the author points out right from the start, is that he only dicusses objects constructed from aluminum (in a kryton environment -- no surface oxidation is allowed).

While it is interesting that nano-scale aluminum does not behave as one might think (the high proportion of surface atoms, which are not bonded like internal atoms are, makes the melting points of the objects far, far lower than normal aluminum), why base an entire book on aluminum? Diamond, carbon nanotubes, and other "typical" nano materials are completely ignored.

I suppose the book does what it sets out to do: Provide strong evidence that nano-engineering is NOT just scaled-down macro-engineering. The point is made that simulations and testing are required to determine material properties at the nano scale, and this could greatly complicate nano-design. But, I cannot help but come away disappointed from a book with dozens of simulated examples, that probably took hundreds of hours of computer time, which fails to include a single carbon-based structure. How about a SINGLE SENTENCE to the effect of "When we created this piece out of diamond, we did (or did not) see the same issues with melting points, sublimation, etc"?

But, if you want some nitty-gritty on nano-scale simulation, this is a good book. The author has done some interesting work with modifying AutoCad to work with molecular dynamics simulations, and explains which algorithms scale best for parallel processing, along with some other interesting pieces of info. No doubt this type of work will be crucial in realizing mature nanotechnology.