Closer to Reality: Atom-Sized Engine Developed That Operates at -273 Degrees

Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, heat engines have represented the fundamental cornerstone upon which modern technology was built. From old steam engines to contemporary car engines, these machines rely on a classic, fixed principle: converting the flow of heat between two reservoirs—one hot and one cold—to produce kinetic energy. With the remarkable scientific advances in nanotechnology, scientists are now looking to apply these physical principles to the smallest possible scales of the universe, that is, at the level of individual particles governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. In a recent study published recently in the journal "Nature Communications", a team of researchers from Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland…