Nanoparticles Used To Create Thermal 'Barcodes'

Rambo Tribble (1273454) writes 'Researchers from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts, have developed nanoparticles with distinct melting points, which they suggest be used as forensic "barcodes" to identify the origins and integrity of things such as explosives and currency [PDF]. To demonstrate the technique, the researchers used the explosive, TNT, as a test case. Commenting on the viability of the approach, researcher Dr Ming Su said, 'The nanoparticle does not participate in any chemical reaction, and it will not effect the function of the existing object. The only thing it will do is to provide a thermal signature.' He added, 'Nanoparticles are so small, they can be put into any objects.' The BBC has more approachable coverage.'

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[backslashdot]

Slashfag is not a word you moron. Learn to spell.

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[nurb432]

So you make your own.

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[CanHasDIY]

Carbon + Sulphur + Salt Peter, right?

Hey, if the Chinese could figure it out 2000 years ago...

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[gstoddart]

The Chinese invented many [listverse.com] many [vhinkle.com] things.

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[CanHasDIY]

Didn't mean to disparage the Chinese, was pointing out that it's not like gunpowder is some newfangled technology that's easy to regulate and control.

Side note - the mechanical clock in the second link is pretty cool, I'd love to see someone recreate it.

from the polywater guys

[jcomeau_ictx]

thanks for helping enable the surveillance state to ratchet things up a notch, WPI. why can't you go back to making polywater, like back in the 70s?

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[baldass_newbie]

~scans nanoparticle~
"We've got him."

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[unixisc]

Yeah, I'm seeing the same thing - and am not posting as AC. But regardless of whether I check the No ads box or not, I keep seeing the Ads. What's more - I don't have Flash installed on my laptop under either IE or FF (and do not have Chrome) and yet, I'm seeing not just ads, but animated ads.

Has /. decided to disable the ad disabling mechanism for those who don't switch to beta?

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[Bill Dimm]

I'm seeing the same thing.

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[cheater512]

Personally I'd be more concerned about the explosion that released the nanoparticles, rather than the nanoparticles themselves.

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[Nephandus]

And worthless if that stuff for IDing sources of explosive components is anything to go on (which I'm not even sure if this isn't the same stuff just with an attempt at a wider sell...). It becomes useless when it eventually gets everywhere, aside from potential cellular toxicity.

Melting point

[Fear the Clam]

The idea is interesting, but once the particle has been melted, I assume that it can't be verified again. If that's the case then no matter how many of these tagging particles are added to a given object, it can only be verified a finite number of times.

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[cheater512]

The way I read it was that the explosion melted the particles, not the verification step. So once melted you can verify it as many times as you want.
Plus they are small so you can cram a lot in to the explosive.

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[Fear the Clam]

Good point. That makes sense for explosives, but I was thinking about currency. It's not like you want to destroy money or bearer bonds to determine whether they're genuine.