Florence M.

Lapinig STS Reflection BSA I-A11 | March 6, 2020

“Before the Flood”

Reflection

The documentary titled “Before the Flood”, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, talks about a global issue which all
of us shared: Climate Change. The film showed me that this phenomenal issue is not often mentioned during
national elections as one of the most concerning issues around the world. Most of us, especially those powerful
multinational corporations, have been constantly denying the fact that the threat of climate change is upon us. For
Leonardo Di Caprio, this mentality has to stop.

In the film, Leonardo Di Caprio went to different locations, showing the effects of climate change. There is
one place where the ice was getting thinner and thinner and people hunting polar bears instead of fishes. There is
also another one in India, where people are extracting and mining coals. All throughout the duration, the film has
showed me the causes and effects of climate change, each unique but somehow alike in every country. However,
there is this one particular scene shot in China, where I discovered how manufacturers look like. Huge buildings
emitting smoke and chemicals everywhere which led to the country being the most polluted place on earth. People
were wearing masks outside struggling to survive the polluted air. I can see how much they were affected which
made me realize how important that we resolve the issue of climate change.

As part of today’s youth, I cannot deny the fact that climate change might overpower our future. I cannot
help but be concerned about our environment because it is all we got. We have no other source of our resources
but our planet earth. It’s time to take matters into our own hands. It might be too late, but it’s better late than
never.
2. ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE (AFM)
 Gerd Binig, Calvin Quate and Christoph Gerber (1986)
 Makes use of a mechanical probe that gathers information from the surface of a material.
 The process is similar to a blind reading through BRAILLE

3. SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

 Gerd Binig and Heinrich Rohreer (1986)
 They won the Nobel Prize in Physics because of this invention.
 Enables scientists to view and manipulate nanoscale particles, atoms, and small molecules
 When talking of AFM, it captures precise images by moving a nanometer sized tip across the surface of the
image. The STM captures images using quantum tunneling.
 Of the two microscopes, the Scanning Tunneling Microscope was the first to be developed.
 Unlike the STM, the probe makes a direct contact with the surface or calculates the incipient chemical
bonding in AFM. The STM images indirectly by calculating the quantum degree tunneling between the
probe and sample.
 Another difference that can be seen is that the tip in AFM touches the surface gently touches the surface
whereas in STM, the tip is kept at a short distance from the surface.
 Unlike the STM, the AFM does not measure the tunneling current but only measures the small force
between the surface and the tip.
 It has also been seen that the AFM resolution is better than the STM. This is why AFM is widely used in
nano-technology. When talking of the dependence between force and distance, the AFM is more complex
than the STM.
 Difference between AFM and STM is that STM can, not only view particles, but they can also manipulate
them.

NANOMANUFACTURING
 Refers to scaled-up, reliable, and cost- effective manufacturing of nanoscale materials, structures, devices
and systems
 Also involves research, improvement, and incorporation of processes for the construction of materials
 Leads to the development of new products and improved materials
 Important because the nanomaterials are used to make basic products such as inks, medicines, cosmetics,
personal care products, and car tires.

TWO FUNDAMENTAL APPROACHES TO NANOMANUFACTURING:

1. Bottom-up fabrication
 Manufactures products by building them up from atomic and molecular-scale components
 Can be time-consuming
 Scientists and engineers are still in search for effective ways of putting together molecular components that
self-assemble and from the bottom-up to organized structures

2. Top-down fabrication
 Trims down large pieces of materials into nanoscale
 The process needs larger amounts of materials and discards excess raw materials

NEW APPROACHES TO THE ASSEMBLY OF NANOMATERIALS:

1. Dip pen lithography
 Method in which the tip of an atomic force microscope is “dipped” into a chemical fluid and then utilized to
“write” on a surface
 Like an old-fashioned ink pen onto a paper/ It is also similar to the printing process

2. Self-assembly
 Depicts an approach wherein a set of components join together to mold an organized structure in the
absence of an outside direction
 Helpful because it reduces time consumption

3. Chemical vapor deposition

 Chemicals act in response to form very pure, high-performance films
 Usually used when creating synthetic diamonds (creating synthetic diamonds from a natural diamond seed
—cut into thin pieces—placed into a CVD machine—thin natural dimaonds grow into synthetic diamonds
—cut into shape)