Introduction to

Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology
LECTURE 5

Dr. Lutfiye Altay

Ege University
Mechanical Engineering Dept.
2019-2020 Spring
 Nanomechanics
Mechanics deals with the motions of objects and the forces
that cause these motions

Galileo and Descartes both believed mechanics

could reveal the nature of everything

Isaac Newton built on the ideas of these two thinkers by developing a

completely mathematical theory for the motion of the universe. Newton’s 1687
scientific treatise, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, gave us the
famous three laws of motion and the foundation for classical mechanics.

According to classical mechanics, everything operates with

machine-like precision. Every motion can be predicted exactly.
Behavior of objects at the nanoscale??? the weird and wonderful
phenomena of quantum mechanics.

Classical mechanics says, “I know exactly where that thing

will go next,” to which quantum mechanics replies, “But
there is a chance that it will not go there at all.”

The motions that we are most concerned with are oscillations. An oscillation,
or vibration, is any motion that repeats itself in time. All objects tend to
oscillate at a particular frequency, which depends on properties such as the
object’s mass and stiffness. This frequency is known as the object’s resonance
(or natural) frequency. The resonance frequency of a nanoscale object or
system is characteristically high, simply because its mass is so
characteristically small. Higher
However, the technology of nanomechanics enables us to observe,
measure, and even exert forces on the molecular atomic level.

A quick review of a few of the most basic principles of motion: displacement,

velocity, acceleration, and force.
Displacement, say Δx, is an object’s change in position—the distance it moves in the
x direction between its initial and final positions:
velocity as a function of displacement is
Newton’s Second Law (of his three famous laws) relates to force, F. It explains what
will happen to an object when a force is applied to it. The answer is that the object
will accelerate. It is considered positive acceleration if the force causes the object to
speed up in the x direction, or negative acceleration—sometimes called
deceleration—if the force causes the object to slow down (accelerate in the −x
direction). According to Newton’s law, the acceleration is directly proportional to
the net force acting on the object and inversely proportional to the object’s mass:

Example: follow the

board
 Constant oscillatory motion is common to all matter. Atoms are oscillating
back and forth at all times. Oscillation is also of fundamental importance
to many nanomechanical systems.

The simplest oscillating system consists of a mass coupled to something

elastic. A ball connected to a spring is a perfect example. This simple system
can be used to represent the two nanoscale systems that we will study in
detail in this chapter: (1) beams and (2) atoms. A beam has an inherent
elasticity and can be deflected; atomic bonds are also inherently elastic. We
can therefore represent each of these systems quite well using a ball-and-
spring model, as shown in Figure 5.2.
 Numerous nanoscale structures qualify as beams,
including wires, nanotubes, rods, belts, columns,
and cantilevers—indeed, any flexible object that
extends outward from a fixed base can be
approximated as a beam.

Beams and atoms oscillate like balls on springs. This is how we

approximate these two important systems throughout the
discussion of nanomechanics.
Free Oscillation
In the absence of any external forces, a ball on a spring undergoes free
oscillation
The only force exerted on the ball is the force of the spring, Fspring.

indicates direction Stiffness (N/m)

The spring force is always directed toward

the equilibrium position, opposite to the
displacement

For rectangular cantilever beam (free at one end),

modulus of elasticity (a material constant)
The motion of a ball on a spring
When the spring is elongated, the displacement, x, is
positive. This means that when the ball is released at
time, t = 0, the acceleration will be in the negative (−x)
direction, toward the equilibrium point. The velocity of
the ball increases as it shoots toward the equilibrium
position of the spring. For all positive values of x, the
spring will continue to pull the ball to the left. At the
equilibrium point (x = 0), the spring exerts no force,
although the ball is traveling fast enough to continue
beyond equilibrium and begin to compress the spring,
moving the ball into the negative displacement (−x)
region. Now the spring will exert a force on the ball in
the positive x direction, so the acceleration will be in
the positive x direction. The force will slow the
speeding ball to a stop, reverse it, and push it back
toward equilibrium again. This cycle repeats
indefinitely. As it oscillates, the ball traces a sinusoidal
pattern as a function of time, and the amplitude of the
sine wave never diminishes. This is known as simple
harmonic motion.
A simple harmonic oscillator is the prototype of any system with a
mass that makes small vibrations about an equilibrium point.

The frequency at which the simple harmonic system oscillates is

an important quantity known as the natural (or resonance)
frequency, fn, is determined by

stiffness of the spring

Cycle/sec or Hertz
mass of the ball
natural (or resonance) frequency (spring’s mass is neglected)

express the natural frequency as an angular frequency, ωn

rad/sec
The amplitude, A and period, τ of oscillation shown on a graph of
displacement versus time.
This is obviously an idealized system. In reality, there are always dissipative
forces, such as friction. These forces not only retard the motion of the object, but
also rob the system of energy. We can lump these dissipative forces together into a
single force, called the damping force, Fdamp. Unlike the spring force, which is
proportional to displacement, the damping force is proportional to the velocity, v,
of the object, and can be expressed as follows

damping coefficient
The negative sign indicates that this force always
acts in the direction opposite to the object’s
motion.

Damping occurs anytime an object moves through a fluid such as air

or water. The mechanical energy is gradually lost to the fluid in the
form of heat; this loss of energy is known as viscous damping.
a spring–ball system operating in water.
The spring force still works the same way,
either pushing or pulling the ball back
toward equilibrium. However, whenever
the ball is moving, the damping force
resists it. (And the only time the ball is not
moving is when it turns around at the
points of maximum displacement.)
Although the system still oscillates, it
oscillates at a frequency lower than the
undamped natural frequency, and the
amplitude decreases over time until the
motion ultimately ceases. Notice, however,
that the frequency does not change as the
amplitude decreases. In simple harmonic
motion, frequency does not depend on
amplitude.
Free Oscillation from the Perspective of Energy (and Probability)
we have examined the mass–spring system from the perspective of
force. Let us take another look at this system to understand how it uses
Weenergy
can think of energy as a force applied through a distance. Energy is
measured in joules (J), where 1 J = 1 N m. So any time the spring is forced away
from its equilibrium position, it is loaded with energy—potential energy (PE) to
be exact. Mathematically, the potential energy gained by the system between its
equilibrium position (x = 0) and its current position (x = x) is the integral of the
force, F, with respect to displacement:

We know that the force of a spring is Fspring = kx,

substituting F into PE equation

how much energy the mass–spring system

has for a given displacement x
The system has kinetic energy, KE, any time it is in motion. We know the spring
exerts a force on the mass that makes it move with constant acceleration a.
Rearranging acceleration we get,
v0 : initial velocity,
V : current velocity,
x0 : initial position,
x : current position

If the object starts from rest (v0 = 0) at an initial position of x0 = 0,

this equation simplifies to

Force, F = ma

The kinetic energy, KE, is determined by the product of force over a

distance,
The kinetic energy (KE) and potential energy (PE) of a mass–spring
system

In the ideal case where there are no losses due to damping, the total energy,
Etotal, of the system is conserved. That is, Etotal = KE + PE = constant, or
 The amplitude, A : point of maximum
displacement
At this point, the mass comes to a complete
stop while turning around.
With the velocity, v = 0, the energy of the
system consists entirely of potential
energy, or

The mass is then accelerated away from

this point, and stored potential energy into
kinetic energy. When the mass passes
through the equilibrium point (x = 0), the
conversion is complete and the system
now consists entirely of kinetic energy
equilibrium point (x = 0),
The probability that the oscillating mass can be found at a given value
of x, or p(x), is inversely proportional to the mass’ velocity v
constant that depends on the particular
oscillating system

It makes sense then that the mass

spends the least amount of time at the
equilibrium point, where its velocity is
always at a maximum. The mass must
stop completely for a moment before
turning around at A and −A, so it
spends the most time at the points
where the spring is fully compressed or
elongated.
Forced Oscillation

When an external force acts on an oscillating system such as a beam, the

system undergoes forced oscillation
A driving force can compensate for energy losses due to damping and
keep a system oscillating.

The equation of motion for a damped

system forced to oscillate is

The spring force,

The damping Fspring = −kx
The driving force,
force, Fdamp = −bv
Fdrive = F0cos 2πfdrivet

F0: amplitude fdrive :frequency

of the driving force of the driving force
The amplitude, A, of the oscillations of the system can
be calculated using the following equation

• the amplitude does not decay over time

• external force is always working against the damping force to keep the
system oscillating with a steady amplitude
• mass oscillates at the frequency of the driving force, fd

Example: follow the board

 damped natural frequency, fd:

A value related to the damping coefficient is the quality (Q) factor:

The quality factor tells us the sharpness of the resonance peak and
relates oscillation frequency to energy dissipation for a given
system,
Nano- and micrometer-scale beams have quality factors of
about 100 when oscillating in air; in vacuum, Q can be up to
1000 times higher
We can also estimate Q for an oscillating system by the ratio of the
damped resonance frequency, fd, to the bandwidth, Δf:
Atoms

Atoms in a solid vibrate back and forth; and as the temperature rises,
the atoms vibrate with bigger and bigger amplitudes

The concept of a simple harmonic oscillator can be used for

understanding the vibrations of atoms.

How an Atomic Bond Is Like a Spring? The Lennard–Jones Interaction:

Think about pair of atoms bonded together as a molecule

They can move toward each other or away from one another

Pair of atoms are separated by a distance, x . These atoms will be

attracted or repelled by each other, depending on x
attractive repulsive
The Lennard–Jones potential to model
the potential energy, PE,

C1 and C2: constants for attractive and

repulsive interactions, vary by atom
interaction force F between the atoms is
At very large separation distances, the
atoms do not even “feel” the presence of
one another at all

Therefore, both the potential energy and the force between them are zero.
In our model, this equates to there being no spring between the balls. As
the atoms near one another, they are at first subject to attractive forces (as if
there is an elongated spring between the atoms pulling them together). The
closer they get, lesser energy is added (the spring is less and less
elongated). Eventually, the potential energy curve reaches a minimum at
the equilibrium separation distance, x = xe. It is here that the curve of the
interaction force also goes to zero. Unless additional energy is added to the
system, or the system is in motion exchanging kinetic and potential energy,
the atoms remain at this separation distance. In our model, this is just like
the equilibrium position of the spring (x = 0), where it is neither
compressed nor elongated.
The force of a spring is proportional to the spring constant, k, measured in
units of force per unit displacement (typically N/m). How then do we
determine the spring constant of the bond shared by two atoms?

The answer is on the force curve in Figure 5.10. If we zoom in on the region
near the equilibrium position, xe, we see that the force is relatively linear. For
values of x less than xe, the atoms have been forced closer together than they
would be naturally—like a compressed spring. Values greater than xe are the
equivalent of an elongated spring. Because we know that the spring constant
is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the
distance, the spring constant is then the slope of the curve (or dF/dx) in this
region.
The spring force, Fspring, holding together the atoms in the ball–spring
model is

equilibrium
spring separatio separation
constant n
distance
 the mass of the system?
We cannot simply add up the masses of the two atoms , When two
objects are acted upon by a gravitational force, we treat their
masses as a single mass, known as the “reduced mass,” mr

The kinetic energy, KE, of atomic mass–spring system:

The potential energy is

potential energy zero when the atoms are

separated by their equilibrium separation,
xe
Because we now know the reduced mass and the
spring constant of our two-atom system, we can
calculate the natural frequency, fn
The mass of two objects acted upon by a central force
such as a spring is known as the reduced mass, mr.
Both masses are treated as a single value.
FIGURE 5.24 Arranging atoms with the
STM. Placing the tip directly over a surface
atom, as shown in (a), increases the
interaction between the two. If the
electrical and mechanical parameters are
just right, the tip can be used to move
atoms one at a time to new positions on the
surface. The images in (b) were made this
way. Here, 48 iron atoms were arranged
into a corral that trapped electrons on the
surface, as evidenced by the standing wave
pattern inside the corral. (Image originally
created by IBM Corporation.)
The AFM operates in much the same way a blind person reads a book. However,
instead of moving a hypersensitive fingertip over the Braille language, the AFM
moves its tiny probing finger over much smaller objects such as DNA molecules,
live yeast cells, or the atomic plateaus on a graphite surface.

The AFM’s “finger” is actually a cantilever beam about a few

hundred micrometers long, with a very sharp pointed tip
protruding off the bottom, similar to the needle of a record
player.