in Toulouse, the smallest car race in the world to advance research
Cars a million times smaller than an ant set off for a competition at the crossroads of physics, chemistry and motor sports, this is the NanoCar race. It lasts 24 hours and has just ended, this Friday March 25 at 11 a.m. in Toulouse.
The race is invisible to the naked eye, but is no less exciting for the 8 international teams taking part. Their cars are made up of 150 atoms associated with each other, equipped with mini-wheels and a mini-chassis. Propelled by the energy of electrical impulses, they set off on a track 30,000 times thinner than the thickness of a hair.
This NanoCar race took place over 24 hours, on March 24 and 25 at the Center for the Development of Materials and Structural Studies (CEMES) in Toulouse, a CNRS laboratory. The researchers were grouped there to control their mini vehicles remotely.
After 24 hours of competition, the race was won by the team from Madrid (Spain), tied with that of Tsukuba (Japan). The Toulouse team finished 6th in the standings.
We arrived 6th out of 8, but we are still very happy! We did 4 times better than in our training, but some molecules work better than others, that’s how it is. Our pilot, who had to stay focused for 24 hours, really delivered.
Gwénaël Rapenne, director of the Toulouse / Nara team
This “molecule-car” course is on the scale of molecules and atoms: the nanoscale. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or 500,000 times thinner than the thickness of a ballpoint pen line.
The race is therefore invisible to the naked eye and requires a very powerful microscope to observe the NanoCars: a “tunnel effect” microscope.
video length: 16sec
NanoCar Race Toulouse
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©Toulouse Nara team / CEMES / CNRS photo library
Beyond the competition, the idea of the race is to advance research in the use of molecule-machines.
Developing machines 100,000 times smaller that perform the same actions as our current machines is a major technological link. In short, molecular machines are to chemistry what cinema is to photography.
Gwénaël Rapenne, director of the Toulouse / Nara team
” Eventually, it will be possible to use it to improve the efficiency of motors and computers and make impressive energy savings. Thus, it is likely that in the next few years, these machines will be used in the construction of electronic circuits or the deconstruction of industrial waste, atom by atom. “, Details a press release from the University of Toulouse III, associated with the race.
It is a Toulouse-Japanese team which represents the Pink City among the eight international teams. It is made up of 4 Japanese and 4 French, including 3 teacher-researchers from the University of Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier. The team has a dipole nanocar that was synthesized at Japan’s NAIST university.
The design of the molecules has been thought out for a long time. ” To hope to win the race, you must not only be fast but also be able to maintain control. The design then is a compromise between two conflicting requirements », explains Gwénaël Rapenne, manager of the Toulouse/Nara team.
The first edition of the NanoCar race, which took place in 2017, was won ex aequo by the Swiss team and the American-Austrian team.