🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Dec.17.20.24.12.1992.25394@planchet.rutgers.edu> merkle@parc.xerox.com (Ralph Merkle) writes:

   > Topic   6:  Nanosystems - New Drexler Book - Critique
   > By: Hudson Hayes Luce (hluce) on Sun, Nov 15, '92
   >   Describe a high-vacuum/solvent interface.

   This is illustrated on page 374, figure 13.1.  There is a diamondoid wall
   between the liquid external environment and the high-vacuum internal
   environment.  Figure 13.4 illustrates a multi-staged cascade which will
   produce an output with a contaminant fraction of less than 10^-15.

This looks like a near miss to me.  In fig 13.1 the output of sorted
molecules are pictured floating down a tube in a fairly random way.
This means that either the sorted molecules are dissolved in a solvent
or the sorted molecules themselves form either a liquid or a gas; in
either case, there is no vacuum on the rhs of the figure.

Fortunately, Figure 13.5 on page 384 shows a scheme that puts the
sorted molecules on a conveyor belt, which seems like a plausible way
to do it in a vacuum.  If there's a vacuum on the rhs of the figure,
then one of the following must be true:

   1. There is no solvent in the stream entering the lhs of the
      figure.  This means that the molecule we're interested in must form a
      liquid or gas at whatever temperature we're working at.
   2. We can design the rotating parts to fit closely enough to ensure
      that essentially none of the solvent leaks from the lhs of the
      figure to the rhs. 

Both of these seem plausible to me.  Given that Drexler referred to
hydrostatic pressure page 384, it seems doubtful that I'm giving his
diagram the meaning he intended.

--
Tim Freeman <tsf@cs.cmu.edu>    CompuServe ID 71045,2267 checked occasionally.
When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don't deal drugs.
When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I'm innocent.
When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don't own a gun.
Now they've come for the first amendment, and I can't say anything at all.

[It would seem silly to build the concentrator as shown and throw
 away the negentropy it gains by allowing the sorted molecules to float
 ramdomly off to the right--taking them off on a conveyor belt seems a
 much better way to do it.
 --JoSH]