Nanocar

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The nanocar is a molecule designed in 2005 at Rice University by a group headed by Professor James Tour. Despite the name, the original nanocar does not contain a molecular motor, hence, it is not really a car. Rather, it was designed to solve the question of how fullerenes move about on metal surfaces; specifically, whether they roll or slide. The molecule consists of an H-shaped 'chassis' with fullerene groups attached at the four corners to act as wheels. When dispersed on a gold surface, the molecules attach themselves to the surface via their fullerene groups and are detected via scanning tunneling microscopy. One can deduce their orientation as the frame length is a little shorter than its width.