Believe it or not, nanoparticles are already being used in our everyday products. You may have heard about nanoparticles as a relatively new and important area of scientific research.
Nanoparticles are really tiny bits of materials. Really tiny. By this, I mean nanoparticles only contain a few hundred atoms. You might not think much of this, but being so tiny drastically affects their properties.
Already, nanoparticles are being used in our deodorants, sun cream and cosmetics. While this is definitely useful, considering that nanoparticles have been shown to be more effective, with better skin coverage and easier absorption by the body, the ways that they affect the body are not yet fully understood.
Some people are worried the effects of nanoparticles on human health have not been investigated properly, yet they have already been made available. The long-term impacts on health are unknown.
There are also concerns that nanoparticles may cause environmental damage. They may have damaging effects if they are washed away into the environment. For example, when clothes sprayed with nanoparticles-containing deodorant is washed, some of the silver nanoparticles end up in the wastewater. Unfortunately, they don’t degrade, so end up in rivers, and some studies have shown silver nanoparticles can be toxic to fish.
So, while it remains unclear whether there will be negative long-term effects of nanoparticles on our health and environment, nanoparticles are an essential and innovative part of science, with many important applications in our everyday products, and a great potential to change the way we live for the better.