Has Anybody Ever Tried to Build a Build an Brownian Ratchet?

[James Brady]

I understand that it wouldn't work. But I'm curious with the development of nano technology, has anybody ever constructed a real life brownian ratchet to visually verify Richard Feynman's analysis?

On a scale of 1 to 10, actually being able to see the failure would be pretty cool...

 

[DrDu]

Yes, molecular ratchets have been studied alot. Here's one of the first realisations:

http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j...loHYDQ&usg=AFQjCNHggUBcUwBNbXl2yR1qRiAG9OSe7Q

 

[James Brady]

Interesting, thanks!