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Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

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Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#11
post #8

"large molecule" is pretty misleading. DNA is single molecule and unrolled has length over 2 meters. Organic molecules are practically unlimited in their size.

Do you have a source on that? It didn't gut check with me and some quick googling turned up some contradictory, but not decisive, information otherwise [1]

1. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_size_of_a_DNA_molecule

Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#12
post #8

"large molecule" is pretty misleading. DNA is single molecule and unrolled has length over 2 meters. Organic molecules are practically unlimited in their size.

technically correct but they are talking about touching the accessible surface of a compact molecule which is approximately spherical and thus "size" is determined by its raised profile on a surface.

Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#15
post #5

In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel lik…

Simply put, glass is molecularly geometric - building actuated buttons into the glass itself isn't very probable. But a film of actuated buttons could be added much like with capacitive touch sensors today. Microfluidics is near the 100nm range today. Throw in a bit of ferrofluid and something like this is at least plausible. The challenge is in making all this transparent. The microfluidic channels would need to not…

You might also find this video [1] interesting. Although it's not clear how far this company has actually got with the technology.

[1] http://vimeo.com/43431035

Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#17
post #8

"large molecule" is pretty misleading. DNA is single molecule and unrolled has length over 2 meters. Organic molecules are practically unlimited in their size.

Do you have a source on that? It didn't gut check with me and some quick googling turned up some contradictory, but not decisive, information otherwise [1] 1. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_size_of_a_DNA_molecule

http://www.biology-online.org/biology-forum/about819.html

Fourth post on the page gives a source: This is from Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th Edition) 2004. Alberts et al. Textbook. "Each human cell contains approximately 2 meters of DNA if stretched end-to-end"

Perhaps a human cell contains several DNA molecules?

Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source on that? It didn't gut check with me and some quick googling turned up some contradictory, but not decisive, information otherwise [1] 1. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_size_of_a_DNA_molecule

http://www.biology-online.org/biology-forum/about819.html Fourth post on the page gives a source: This is from Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th Edition) 2004. Alberts et al. Textbook. "Each human cell contains approximately 2 meters of DNA if stretched end-to-end" Perhaps a human cell contains several DNA molecules?

Each human cell typically contains 23 chromosomes, each of which is basically a long DNA strand.

This indicates that the total length unraveled is 2m: https://www.inkling.com/read/essential-cell-biology-bruce-al...

Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#19
post #5

In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel lik…

Totally possible Have a look at this http://tactustechnology.com/

Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface

#20
post #5

In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel lik…

Yes, that is already one of many options of haptic feedback being explored actually: > A new technique that does not require actuators is called reverse-electrovibration. A weak current is sent from a device on the user through the object they are touching to the ground. The oscillating electric field around the skin on their finger tips creates a variable sensation of friction depending on the waveform, frequency, a…

It seems that I've got years of experience with third generation haptic technology then.

If you plugin a laptop into an outlet that is not properly grounded and move your fingers across metal surfaces of the thing, one can experience it first hand. A sensation of friction, like moving your fingers over ripples because of the current running through them. This should work with a lot of electrical appliances that have metal surfaces.

Not really pleasant though :)

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