NANOPINION

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Bet Coll-Vinent, Rita Trias i Nerea López

ÍNDEX➢ NANOTECHNOLOGY

VOCABULARY➢ SPORTS TECHOLOGY➢ NATURE’S NANOCOMPOSITES➢ NEWS➢ NANOTECHNOLOGY IN SPORTS

AND RUNNING SHOES

NANOTECHNOLOGY VOCABULARY

● Nanocomposite: is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers (nm).

● Nanoscale: structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology

● Nanostructured: is an object of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures

● Nanotube: is a nanometer-scale tube-like structure

Nanoscale

SPORTS TECHNOLOGY

Sports technology has found its greatest proponents among professional athletes. Advances in sports equipment have undoubtedly played a role in the achievement of these athletes in their respective fields.

Taking a peek at nature's solutions is always a good idea. And nature has quite a lot of examples of tough materials. If we look for an example for a material that is strong and good at deflecting cracks, we should look no further than a simple abalone.

At the nanoscale, an abalone shell is made of thousands of layers of tiles made of calcium carbonate (more commonly known as chalk). Each tile is about 10 micrometers across and 0.5 micrometers thick. They are organized in a highly ordered brick-like structure and bound by a protein adhesive. This glue is weak enough to permit the layers to slip apart, absorbing the energy of a heavy blow in the process.

NATURE’S NANOCOMPOSITES

Vocabulary:➢ Peek: fer una ullada➢ Tough: dur➢ Crack: trencar-se➢ Abalone: ostra➢ Shell: carcassa➢ Layer: capa➢ Weak: dèbil/fràgil➢ Tile: mossaïc

Four goals may be seen as important in order to create carbon nanotube

composites that are more structured:

● the nanotubes must be long in order to effectively carry loads;

● they must be aligned in rows;

● there must be a high ratio of CNTs to the polymer or resin used to

hold them together;

● the nanotubes must be as straight as possible in order for the

material to bear weight evenly.

Vocabulary:➢ Row: fila➢ Straight: recte➢ Bear: suportar➢ Weight: pes➢ Evenly: horitzontalment

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN SPORTS AND RUNNING SHOES

Running shoes are designed to absorb energy, to make them comfortable and protect your feet. To

do this they have to be soft and squishy, but if you walked on a soft material it would flatten

out, getting deader and deader as you went through the day.

To stop this, we need to add hard bits to the formulation. These prevent the shape squishing

too far, and allow it to rebound after each step. As a result, the running shoe stays in shape.

The nanotechnology comes in because the soft and the hard bits we use are the size of polymer

molecules. Nike develops shoes with sensor systems could improve quickness.

Vocabulary: ➢ Squishy/Soft material: tou➢ Shape: forma

The core of the running shoe is a polymer foam, blown by a gas generated when the polymer is made. In a simple polymer for running shoes, two different types of molecule - of different sizes and stiffness - might be used. Combining them in the correct ratio gives a sole that absorbs energy and recovers it's shape, after it has been compressed.

Vocabulary:➢ Core: centre, nucli➢ Foam: espuma➢ Stiffness: rigidesa

IMPROVED SPORT GEAR (NANOPINION)

NEWS

NANOFIBERS BUILD STRONGER, TOUGHER BIKES AND PLANES

● Finding materials that are both tough and strong is one of the biggest obstacles facing those who design everything from bridges to bicycles and bullet-proof vests.

● But a new nanofiber from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) could be the better material for construct sport gear.

● It’s a type of synthetic polymer related to acrylic.

● You could use this material to build objects that are simultaneously resilient and light-weight.