An Indian-origin scientist has built a water-based computer which explores the possibility of using the physical aspects of bits of information to manipulate matter at the mesoscale. Stanford Assistant Professor Manu Prakash, Jim Cybulski and Georgios Katsikis have proudly presented the study that exploits the physics of moving water droplets in the journal Nature Physics.
It took almost ten years for this water-based computer to become a reality. The Stanford researchers do not intend to compete with conventional electronics with their invention, but are more interested in its potential to manipulate and transfer physical objects at extremely high speeds. The system is composed of an arrangement of T and I shaped iron bars on glass slides.
A blank glass slide is laid on top with a layer of oil in between. The setup is then injected with water droplets carrying magnetic particles at the nanoscale level. Then the magnetic field is switched on. Each time the scientists flip the field, the drops are drawn in a new preset direction. One rotation of the field is equivalent to one clock cycle, with every drop moving a single step forward per cycle.
The presence or absence of a water drop is indicative of the 1 and 0 of binary code, and the clock sees to it that the droplets move in perfect synchrony. Even though the chips in the water-based computer are about 50 percent smaller than a postage stamp and the magnetized drops are smaller than poppy seeds, the system is apparently highly scalable. The magnetic field can control millions of droplets at once.
Prakash says that the water-based computer is so exciting because it can revolutionize computation in the physical world. An example of its application might involve it acting like a high-throughput chemistry or biology lab. Instead of experimenting with reactions in bulk test tubes, a drop can carry chemicals and become its own test tube.