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> Silicon nanowires are ... so thin they are essentially one-dimensional. Interesting wording.
by clebio 10y ago
> Silicon nanowires are ... so thin they are essentially one-dimensional.
Interesting wording.
- castis 10y agoI'm no expert on any part of that but wouldn't a wire be two-dimensional? Or was that the point of your comment?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- recursive 10y agoUsually, a wire is like a long thin filament. Surely, this is closer to one-dimensional than two-.
- asimpletune 10y agoI believe what the mean to say by "essentially" is the only relevant dimension in this case would be the length, as the thickness is negligible, given the domain under consideration.
- fredliu 10y agoNo expert here either, but I suppose that meant the wire has essentially only "length" (e.g. x dimension), and no "thickness" (y dimension)?
- johnhenry 10y ago*No "thickness" in either the y or z dimensions -- Let's not forget we have [at least] three :)
- philipov 10y agoA wire can be embedded in 2 or 3 (or N) dimensions, and if the only degree of freedom for travelling along the wire is forward and back (no thickness), then it can also be considered a one-dimensional line. I think the use of the word 'essentially' signifies that the definition of thickness depends on the domain you're examining. In this case, I'd expect we're talking about the connectedness of chemical bonds. No thickness should mean it's a chain of atoms each with only 2 bonds, to the atoms before and after it in the chain.
- entwife 10y agoI immediately through of other cellular structures that are essentially one dimensional: microtubules, 20nm thick; actin filaments 7nm; DNA bare filament 2nm; chromatin 30nm; cell membrane 10nm; aquaporin 5nm (diameter); water molecule 0.275nm, etc. How thick are these silicone nanotubes?
- dekhn 10y agoSee "topological insulators"