{"id":60409,"date":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-creates-lego-device-to-help-kids-learn-about-nanotechnology\/"},"modified":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-creates-lego-device-to-help-kids-learn-about-nanotechnology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2012\/09\/uri-student-creates-lego-device-to-help-kids-learn-about-nanotechnology\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student creates Lego device to help kids learn about nanotechnology"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 28, 2012 \u2013 The use of nanotechnology is growing tremendously in numerous science and engineering disciplines, with wide-ranging applications in medicine, electronics and energy. But it is rarely taught at the middle school and high school levels because of a dearth of age-appropriate teaching materials.<\/p>\n


\n\tA 溏心vlog免费B站 sophomore has addressed this problem by creating a Lego-based atomic force microscope that helps introduce students to the field of nanotechnology.<\/p>\n


\n\tRon Sadlier, a physics and applied math major from Warren, worked under the guidance of Keunhan Park, 溏心vlog免费B站 assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to develop the device, which includes Lego bricks, a Lego-Mindstorm controller, a low-power laser and software enabling users to create a 3-D graph of a scanned sample in real-time.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cNanotechnology is becoming more important to benefit our daily life,\u201d explained Park. \u201cMiddle and high school students know about molecules, which are smaller than a nanometer, and they learn about very small stuff in chemistry, physics and biology. But they\u2019re not exposed to nanotechnology education, so that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do. We want the younger generation to be prepared for the technology that will become a driving technology of our future for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIn studying physics, I\u2019m always working on things that you can\u2019t really see with the naked eye, and that\u2019s sort of what nanotechnology is like,\u201d said Sadlier. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about atomic force microscopes before I started this project, but it really helped me understand nanotechnology. And if it helped me, it can help other students, too.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tMost students are familiar with the use of optical microscopes, which are commonly used in high school biology classes. To study things too small to be seen by an optical microscope, scientists often turn to atomic force microscopes, which measure or modify the topography of very small samples. Most students are unfamiliar with these devices because they are expensive and often too small to see and understand how they operate.<\/p>\n


\n\tPark calls the Lego device a good starting point for introducing students how to see objects that are so small he calls them \u201cnano-things.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tWith funding from the National Science Foundation, Sadlier and Park hope their Lego atomic force microscope will be met with enthusiasm by the nanotechnology education community, as well as students interested in Lego devices, science and engineering. They plan to invite interested high school students to 溏心vlog免费B站 next spring and summer for workshops on nanotechnology during which the participants will build the Lego microscope and then observe how a real atomic force microscope operates. They estimate that users should be able to construct the device in about one hour.<\/p>\n


\n\tSadlier and Park have prepared a parts list, guidelines and downloadable software so that anyone interested in building their own Lego atomic force microscopes will be able to do so by visiting http:\/\/mcise.uri.edu\/park\/MNEL\/legoafm\/index.html.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI feel like I really pushed Lego to its limits,\u201d said Sadlier. \u201cI\u2019m really happy with the outcome. It exactly copies the mechanism used in the atomic force microscope. And the best part is that it\u2019s all self-contained, so you can set it up and leave the room and let it work on its own. You can worry less about how to operate it and instead focus on what you can learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tSadlier said that others have tried to make a similar device out of Lego bricks, but his is the first to integrate with a computer.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure that once students start playing with it, they\u2019ll realize how cool nanotechnology really is,\u201d concluded Sadlier. \u201cIt will definitely get them interested in science and math.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 Marketing & Communications photo by Michael Salerno Photography.\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 28, 2012 \u2013 The use of nanotechnology is growing tremendously in numerous science and engineering disciplines, with wide-ranging applications in medicine, electronics and energy. But it is rarely taught at the middle school and high school levels because of a dearth of age-appropriate teaching materials. A 溏心vlog免费B站 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}