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posted by CoolHand on Monday April 01 2019, @07:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the hot-or-cold dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Just add heat to open this tiny box: Nanocubes automatically connect, disassemble at different temperatures

Researchers have designed two types of nano-sized building blocks that can automatically connect into cubes and scramble back into individual components based on the temperature of their environment. This accomplishment is another step towards chemical systems that more realistically mimic life.

[...]The new building blocks designed by Hiroka's team can connect or scramble themselves automatically because of the different temperature stabilities of the cubes that they form.

The two types of building blocks are nearly identical and are shaped like snowflakes. Researchers color them red or blue in schematic diagrams. A cube assembled from red blocks is stable below 130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit), while a cube assembled from blue blocks is stable only below 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit).

When kept apart, the building blocks connect into entirely red or entirely blue uniform cubes.

When the two types of cubes are mixed together at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius, 77 degrees Fahrenheit), the red and blue building blocks automatically recombine into the most stable type of cubes, which are made of any combination of three red and three blue blocks. This mixture of red-blue cubes is analogous to well-mixed ink and water.

When researchers want to scramble the red-blue cubes to reform entirely red and entirely blue cubes, they do a simple two-step temperature change. This ability represents a chemical accomplishment not possible with a mixture of ink and water.


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:40AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:40AM (#823359)

    I kneeled in front of you and you said you would think about it. Did you say yes? Did you bond with me?

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