Molecular Manufacturing - Molecular Assembly and Molecular Fabrication with Nanotechnology

As background for molecular manufacturing, heres a 25 minute introduction from Google Video - it is a nice overview of the potential of nanotechnology  

The molecular machines in our cells within our bodies are ataomically precise - two copies of the same protein are the same - atom-for-atom - because they are built by a series of controlled chemical reactions.  

Similarly, in a nanomachine conducting molecular manufacturing - the process of building a part will consist of a sequence of chemical reactions and produces an atomically precise product.  Robot arms will be used to put molecules together in such a way that only the desired reaction can happen.  This precision will result in a machine part that is - just like the cells within our bodies - atom-for-atom.
 
Have a look at this desktop nanofactory...



The above is a personal nanofactory, or desktop nanofactory representation of a possibility only a few decades away.  Besides a laptop as was produced in the animation above, you might want to make clothing, or a new cell phone, a t-bone steak, a basketball - whatever. 

For small, simple items - the time taken to molecularly manufacture would be seconds - for larger, complex items - it might take hours.  The social, political, economic, and religious ramifications of such a device necessitate that we start thinking about our use of nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing before the ability gets here.

In the United States - a National Nanotechnology Initiative was set up a few years ago in the public sector - to help fund the start of nanotechnology research - and to assist the private sector when commercialization starts.  Already, we have nanoparticles finding their ways into sunscreens, tennis rackets, paints, plastics, etc.  The actual manipulation of these tiny particles, however, has been worked out in theory, and just time is the only constraint to the fruition of molecular manufacturing.   

Welcome to www.MolecularManufacturing.org .  This special website is meant to be a community site where interested world citizens can become educated about molecular manufacturing.

Molecular Manufacturing has both pros and cons - the ability to make anything from the atomic level could revolutionize health, production, and environmental remediation - yet on the downside create nanoweapons with great destruction potential.  Our best deterrent against the misuse of nanotechnolgy is an enlightened population.  Thanks for stopping by this important website.