Assembling a Cake

1. Assembling a Cake

2. Self Assembly e.g. of two-ended molecules in water Polar ends are attracted to water Molecules spontaneously organize themselves into a pattern water

3. Example of Self-Assembly Balls could be organized into triangles by an external agent, a player Or: punch holes in desired pattern, roll a stream of balls over the board, and …Demo.

4. Self Assembly Shake

5. Application to Manufacturing and nanotechnology RFID: Radio Frequency Identification Device Successor to bar codes on supermarket items 100’s of microns e.g ID’s in clothes automatically read by antenna as person walks out of store

6. Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA) RFID’s are manufactured on silicon wafers, The wafer is diced and now you have a pile of small RFID’s. Expensive machines can separate them . Cheaper: self assembly using a fluid RFID’s, in a fluid flowing over a bed with holes in it, collect in the holes Voila! A regular, self-assembled array of RFID’s, each of which can be picked up and placed on the item to be identified (e.g. a dress) Video http://www.alientechnology.com/

7. Ideas for Activities Fluidic self assembly (FSA): Roll a stream of balls over a board with a rectangular array of holes drilled into it (as in the video). Board could be a peg board with two pieces of wood nailed to it to serve as walls defining a channel. A Chinese Checker board would also do well. Balls could be from a Chinese Checker game, or ball bearings. An advantage of drilling your own holes is that they could be drilled in a pattern, such as a student’s name, or a smiley face. Link to page with video: http://www.alientechnology.com/technology/fsa_manufacturing.php