Showing posts with label nomenclature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nomenclature. Show all posts
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Lawyers, update your nano vocabulary!

Monday, December 11, 2006

My previous posts had discussed various definitions of nanotechnology in order for us to exercise more prudency before drafting a contract. We shall avoid categorizing non nano products into "nano", although the barriers are not clear enough. Aerosol for example may be less than 10 nm but they may not qualified as an "engineered nanoparticle".

However, contracts related to existing nanotechnology may not contain the word "nanotechnology" at all. Our client can be either a producer of nanocrystal or nanowire or nanocomposite or nanorob or nanotube or nanoribbon or nanofibre, all that is too specific to be categorized simply as nanotechnology. So, how are we going to distinguish between one nano and the other nano?

Some institutions has been developing a standard nomenclature for nanomaterials:
Last month at the ACS national meeting in San Diego, Vicki Colvin, director of the Center for Biological & Environmental Nanotechnology and chemistry professor at Rice University, told a standing-room-only crowd about a project she’s spearheaded to create a dictionary for the nanoscale. Colvin hopes that by developing standard terminology for nanomaterials, she and her colleagues will be able to create a common language that helps scientists and nonscientists alike.
So, go and update your vocabs! The British Standard nano-nomenclatures is available for a free download here (as of 11/12/06).