Nano Novels
I've been working up large scale images to support 'Nano Novels' I'm writing. V exciting. What I thought was going to be a set of cartoons about nanoparticles has transformed into a series of tiny stories that represent some form of process, reaction or material from the nanotechnology realm.
Why the switch? Because:
* conveying complex processes – such as how laser tweezers work – is hard enough in plain language let alone with hardly any words
* there is so much to say, and sketches of nanoparticles can't say it all
* I don't normally write, and I'm really into it so while it's happening I'm going with it
I also think I have to touch on a lot of issues and facts lightly. Delving deeply into a single aspect of this vast subject (and I mean vast – it will (and is) impact a huge percentage of the industrial world, and in turn our everyday lives), although tempting, will not satisfy my need to share what I am learning and wouldn't really be representative of the field-at-large. Later in the residency, some nanotech detail will be represented more abstractly by a physical piece of work.
So what I'm working on (with TP) is a set of Nano Novels, each accompanied by matching plain text:
OUT OF CONTROL – HOLD ME TIGHT
“In the mating season, the tiny female Slippranophus brightly bugs increase their velocity to more than ten times their usual pace, creating a challenge for any potential mate. Fortunately, due to a unique symbiotic relationship with a plant, the male bugs have evolved a technique to demobilise their chosen mate long enough for procreation to take place. The older males produce electroluminescent droppings that are placed near the female and these dazzling droppings temporarily stun her whilst impregnation occurs. It is believed that this faecal electroluminescence is created by the male Slippranophus brightly eating a diet of Gnipglowantha – a tiny weed that releases a curiously obscure chemical at dusk and grows in the Hartlepool region of the UK. As the faeces glow for less than a second, this fascinating natural phenomena has only recently been discovered.”
“Nanotechnology seeks to try to manipulate nanoparticles, something which is extremely hard to do. It is almost impossible to hold a single nanoparticle completely still – using optical tweezers is one method scientists use to capture and move individual particles. These 'tweezers' do not hold the nanoparticle in the traditional sense. Instead, the intense optical field separates electrical charges on the particle, causing it to acquire a pair of opposite electrical charges (poles—hence called a dipole). The interaction between the dipole and the optical field traps the particle at the point where the field is most intense. This intense field is created by focussing a high power laser, and the particle can be then moved by moving the laser.”
