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The Smallest Car Ever

Rice University, one of the leading universities in the U.S., is home to the smallest car in the world. Scientists have developed a single molecule `nanocar` containing a chassis, axles and four wheels. The wheels are made from spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms a piece called buckyballs. The entire car measures just 3-4 nanometers across, making it slightly wider than a strand of DNA. By comparison, a human hair, is about 80,000 nanometers thick.

The `nanocar` is described in a research paper that is available online and due to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters. Eventually the researchers want to build tiny trucks that could carry atoms and molecules around in miniature factories. They are currently working on designing a light-driven nanocar and a nanotruck that?s capable of carrying small cargo.

Other research groups have created nanoscale objects that are shaped like automobiles, but study co-author Kevin F. Kelly, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, said Rice`s vehicle is the first that actually functions like a car, rolling on four wheels in a direction perpendicular to its axles.