The causes of these drastic changes stem from the weird world of quantum physics, says Thomas N. Theis, IBM's director of physical science. Associated changes in electrical properties have grabbed the attention of the U.S. Air Force, says John Kieffer, an inorganic chemist at the University of Illinois. The radar ''signature'' of a jet plane coated with nano compounds could be smaller and stealthier. Mesoscale particles may turn up in car paints. Andreas Stein, a Minnesota chemist, is working on photonic crystals that could be tuned to reject green light.
Green light carries the most energy of any color.
Block it with special paints, and the interior of cars parked in the sunlight wouldn't get so hot. But the particles could provide a virtually scratchproof surface. For materials scientists, all these strange new potentials are inspiring new dreams. These actually are small clusters of atoms dubbed quantum dots. With a bottom-up approach, Heath predicts, it will be possible to create materials that could never be produced with traditional chemistry.