New Uranium Compound Could Lead to Atomic Hard Drives

[Tom Goldman]

New Uranium Compound Could Lead to Atomic Hard Drives

In the future, hard drive capacity could be seriously expanded through the use of uranium.

Steve Liddle of the University of Nottingham has developed a single-molecule uranium compound that could someday lead to super-high capacity hard drives. The basic premise of the compound's potential is the smaller the magnet, the bigger the hard drive.

Hard drives currently use magnetism to do their magic. Liddle's compound is made of two uranium atoms that maintain their magnetism at a low temperature. Using this compound in a hard drive could lead to a hundred or thousand-fold increase in storage capacity while still keeping the storage device small.


It's apparently an advance in the field of single-molecule magnets and with further research could lead to general applications. Liddle explains: "At this stage it is too early to say where this research might lead, but single-molecule magnets have been the subject of intense study because of their potential applications to make a step change in data storage capacity and realize high-performance computing techniques such as quantum information processing and spintronics."

While it might sound weird to have uranium inside of your computer, the research is using depleted uranium, a by-product of uranium enrichment. It primarily points to a technique that can be researched using similar metals, according to Liddle. Your home office would be safe from a nuclear explosion, probably.

Source: Gizmodo [http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/future-of-hard-drives-uranium/]

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[gigastar]

Yeah, in theese times of terrorist scares just who is going to be comfortable with releasing Uranium to the general public.

And dont think like someone who knows that this cant be purified to pure Uranium, think like someone who believes Fox News.

 

[Tigurus]

Would be fun if it was an actual Atomic hard drive and that suddenly the hard drive break and a new chernobyl will be created.
...
No actually that would be really bad :O

Still, I don't mind a thousandfold increasement of storage space.
Though I already have enough of 1 terabyte. I don't have that full yet :O

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Brings a whole new meaning to rage-quitting.

 

[martin's a madman]

No need to worry, chemical compounds won't ever give you a nuclear explosion because they are exclusively electron exchanges, sharing, etc. (electrons being outside the nucleus)

Yeah, in theese times of terrorist scares just who is going to be comfortable with releasing Uranium to the general public.

And dont think like someone who knows that this cant be purified to pure Uranium, think like someone who believes Fox News.

I'm afraid, tell me who to hate!

 

[Arcanist]

the research is using non-radioactive depleted uranium, a by-product of uranium enrichment.

I find this extraordinarily hard to believe, mostly because there's no such thing as non-radioactive uranium, considering the fact that it has no stable isotope.

Still, a depleted version would be markedly less radioactive, so you could probably encase it in a thin sheet of lead and be perfectly safe.

 

[yndsu]

Yeah, that is shady. Even when it is depleted it is still very radioactive.
So i would not want one of those in my house.
If they wanna use them in server-farms to store data be my guest.
But there is already way too much chemical stuff that is bad for your health
in any household and adding depleted uranium would not help it at all.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

An atomic hard drive in lieu with a processor that uses diamonds... I can surely dream.

 

[TehChuckles]

and after it's released people will slowly develop super-powers which are dictated by their personality, all thanks to Radioactive mutations. sure everyone would look like they just jumped out of a game of Bio Shock with the hideous tumours and all, but doesn't mean a thing when you're invisible right?

 

[KeyMaster45]

Why does this sound like something Aperture Labs would develop. I'm waiting for Cave Johnson to come out with an ad that's something along the lines of:

"Is your hard drive an ancient piece crap? Well don't worry, your buddy Cave's got ya covered. Meet the Aperture Hard Drive, we've used the best atomic science money can buy to give this hard drive 100x the space of your crappy one. Using a special uranium powder there's no limit to how much porn you can stuff in there!" *insert animation of two companion cubes smashing together on a computer screen* "Just so you know Aperture is not responsible for any nuclear disasters you may cause when using your hard drive. Cave doesn't like getting sued."

 

[silv]

Has anyone actually seen the video on this very compound on youtube? It is remarkable, what they've done but Steve Liddle himself and Martyn Poliakoff dismiss it due to the fact that it only works between 0 and 2 degrees kelvin.

Here's the video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qZycn7o7Po


Also while you're at it, go ahead and watch everything else Brady Haran has done with the University of Nottingham, you won't regret it

 

[vxicepickxv]

What ever happened to memristor technology? Once we get that down, things like drive speed and storage capacity become memories, not concerns. One petabit per cm^3.(A petabit is 1024terabit, or 128TB). This would make the a 2.5in hard drive(laptop size) would be about 6350TB. A 3.5in hard drive would be just under 9000TB(8890TB). Of course, that's actually using a much larger portion of the drives, because swapping out drive plates for non-moving components that don't have current solid state drive problems would be nice.

The largest you could get right now as per the article would be around 400TB for a drive with read time delay. The memristor doesn't have that problem either. Programs would load faster, and with fewer errors.

Of course, with memristors, you can also use them as very efficient computers for data processing. They can be used as transistors, but at much lower voltages(1 to 1.1VDC). This could be used to multiply the battery life of your average laptop by a factor of about 3, unless you used anything that required moving parts. Your systems would stay cooler, run on lower voltages, because they are smaller in size than current semiconductors(3nm vs 25nm).


This just seems to be a stopgap until memristors are brought to market.

 

[silverdragon9]

its not weapons grade uranium so its impossible to detonate but the radition would be an issue. (most people don't realize that lead shielding only stops some forms of radiation.)

 

[thisbymaster]

So my case would need 10 feet of lead around it? No thanks, also I don't like the idea of my hard drive having a half life other then the one from valve.

 

[vxicepickxv]

the research is using non-radioactive depleted uranium, a by-product of uranium enrichment.

I find this extraordinarily hard to believe, mostly because there's no such thing as non-radioactive uranium, considering the fact that it has no stable isotope.

Still, a depleted version would be markedly less radioactive, so you could probably encase it in a thin sheet of lead and be perfectly safe.

Depleted uranium is a broken down form of uranium into the highest stable atomic structure it can be, which is lead, except with a couple of extra subatomic particles in it for extra mass.


Don't worry people, a 3 molecule thick collection of depleted uranium isn't going to do much to the background level of any room, especially encased in a hard drive mount, in a hard drive. It sure as hell isn't going to melt down, burn through your computer, and become a pile of radioactive slag.

 

[silverdragon9]

Why does this sound like something Aperture Labs would develop. I'm waiting for Cave Johnson to come out with an ad that's something along the lines of:

"Is your hard drive an ancient piece crap? Well don't worry, your buddy Cave's got ya covered. Meet the Aperture Hard Drive, we've used the best atomic science money can buy to give this hard drive 100x the space of your crappy one. Using a special uranium powder there's no limit to how much porn you can stuff in there!" *insert animation of two companion cubes smashing together on a computer screen* "Just so you know Aperture is not responsible for any nuclear disasters you may cause when using your hard drive. Cave doesn't like getting sued."

excellent good sir!

 

[Kevon Huggins]

so umm how many rads to i get if i open it

 

[Alar]

This plus quantum computing equals greatest computer ever developed by mankind.