Encyclopedia Nanotech

Interdisciplinary nanotechnology requires thoroughly defined and re-defined terms. This encyclopedia serves the function of defining terms and then expanding upon how these words are used in nanotechnology. Click the word to view its encyclopedia entry. To see more words, click on a letter below to see the words that begin with that letter.

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Absolute Zero
The physical limit to how low a temperature any matter can have, which equals -273.15° C.

Assembler
A chemical device that given certain atomic or molecular inputs (starting materials) can output a specific molecular structure or aggregation.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
A type of scanning probe microscopy that maps the topography of an interface by scanning a force sensor over the interface.

ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate)
A chemical compound that functions as fuel for biomolecular nanotechnology having the formula, C₁₀H₁₆N₅O₁₃P₃.

ATPase
A protein complex responsible for converting electical potential energy (from a nanoscale batery) into ATP, the molecule used for immediate fuel by virtually all living systems.

Automated Chemistry
The use of an automated machine (e.g. computer driven robot or fluidic devices) to carry out chemical reactions, purification and molecular assembly.