iNanotube 1.1 for iOS, an dducation app that graphically instructs users about the detailed atomic structure of carbon nanotubes, a class of wires only a few atoms across.
Advanced 3D rendering algorithms provide detailed, animated renderings of the design and construction of carbon nanotubes, while demonstrating and teaching the fundamentals of the atomic properties of these tiny wires.
Users can generate, manipulate, and even sort virtual carbon nanotubes in a user friendly, visual format. An included tutorial explains in simple terms the importance of the detailed 3D structure for practical applications.
The developer, Peter Burke, envisions additional uses of the media for future design of atom-by-atom constructions of many nanotechnology objects such as graphene and other materials, a long-term goal of nanotechnology research around the globe.
iNanotube's design benefits from Burke's pioneering research in the field, and his extensive experience teaching nanotechnology to students around the world. The app allows explanations of key concepts that are typically difficult to convey, but which graphical, animated representations make clear and simple.
For example, one of the goals of nanotube technology is to develop techniques to make nanotubes of a specific crystal structure (described by two integers "n" and "m"). iNanotube makes the relationship between the (n,m) index, the crystal structure and the underlying atomic ingredients, clear. Compatible with all iOS devices, the app takes advantage of their advanced, built-in 3D rendering hardware for smooth, seamless, graphical renderings of carbon nanotubes.
