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These substances are said to work wonders -but at the same time, the shear size of them make them easy to penetrate our cells and even the blood-brain barrier area !! It could make people go mad for ever !!!???

2006-12-24 14:36:49 · 4 answers · asked by devadossvanaja 1 in Environment

4 answers

Most items that are designed in current nanotechnology are on the order of 10-100 nm (10^-9 m) in size. The first citation below references the channels into and out of cells. It has been found that an angstrom (1/10 nm) difference in pore diameter can selectively block transport of molecules into the cell. (selectively let water molecules in but slightly large glycol molecules cannot enter) Common molecules in the body would range from less than 1nm to at maximum, 10nm. Water molecules are at maximum ~300 pm (10^-12 m) (0.3 nm) in size estimating from valence electron radii. So the chances of anything man-made by nanotechnology getting into your cells is slim to none. Now I am excluding anything that has been engineered for delivery using viruses as that's a completely different question.
As for the blood-brain barrier, quoting from the first wikipedia reference, "The blood-brain barrier blocks all molecules except those that cross cell membranes by means of lipid solubility (such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethanol, and steroid hormones) and those that are allowed in by specific transport systems (such as sugars and some amino acids). Substances with a molecular weight higher than 500 daltons (500 u) generally cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, while smaller molecules often can. " The items produced by current nanotechnology are 1) generally not lipid soluble and 2) 100s of atoms in size or more. Looking to what a "dalton" is, we get that items weighing more than 5x10^-25 kg will most likely not be able to pass thru the barrier. The final reference lists THREE atoms of silver weigh more than that. This leads to the conclusion that current nanotech will not cause the problems you are thinking of.

2006-12-24 15:16:05 · answer #1 · answered by olaf_mcmannis 2 · 1 0

We are the 'borg -you will be assimilated -resistence is futile and then they inject those nanorobots into your blood stream right through your neck!!!

oh please, I'm joking.....

I was reading in ASME engineering news about how chemotherapy only gets 1 to 10% of the medication on the tumor area. However, with nano technology, they will be able to bond nano tubes on the the bloodvessels within the tumor and then release 100% of the chemical (medication) exactly where it needs to be.

As with everything, there will be risks but overall, quality of life and life expectancy will increase.

2006-12-24 16:25:35 · answer #2 · answered by MrWiz 4 · 0 0

Olaf is right. It won't cause the problems that you are thinking of. It will cause problems not seen before though, in terms of allergic type reactions. For example, I know someone who worked with a particular compound, aluminum oxide, for years in it's normal powder form. He was then using it in "nano" form, and something about the powder being that small caused him to have a violent allergic reaction that put him in the hospital for a few days. He continues to work with aluminum oxide to this day in non-nano form. So it will only make you go crazy because of the itching and burning if you react to the material in that form.

2006-12-24 15:29:13 · answer #3 · answered by Angry Marsupial 2 · 0 0

NO worry we will all be dead of chicken flu virus before then try buying a hazard suit for your own chance at personal survival?? government uses them but do you see them asking you to get yours.

2006-12-24 16:14:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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