Nanocars get their motors running | CNET News.com

CNET News.com: "Most of the nanocars built at the university are propelled forward when an electrical charge is applied to the roadway, a thin film of gold.

The motor, created by Ben Feringa of the Netherlands' University of Gronigen, is attached to the car. When light strikes the paddlewheel on the motor, it begins to turn in a single direction, which then propels the nanocar forward.



The cars, which took eight years to develop, measure only a few nanometers long and are thinner than human DNA (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter). The smallest measures only 2 nanometers long."