The dust is not innocuous. Not only home that can cause allergies, asthma and even damage your computer. Most of dangerous industrial dust: it is a threat to life.

The first case of flour dust explosion occurred in 1785. This became a cause of accident that befell dozens of workers. Such incidents were not enough. The last occurred in 2008 at a factory in the city of Portwentworth, Georgia. There exploded sugar dust, which killed 13 people and wounding 42.

Despite modern technologies, is still small particles of different materials are a continuous threat to human life. So, recently the American scientists have found that dust at the industrial scale processing of nanomaterials causes high risk of explosion. The study, published in the edition of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, shows that the dust of nanomaterials can explode due to sparks just 1/30 from the spark needed to ignite sugar dust.

Nanopelo much smaller flour, coal or starch, and therefore able to ignite even the slightest spark. This is why researchers decided to investigate the explosion of three types of "non-traditional" dust: nanomaterials, hybrid mixtures of dust and flammable gases or vapours, flocculants - fiber or flakes, which are formed during the production of floor coverings.

The research results show that for ignition of metal nano-materials, like aluminum nanopelo require energy less than 1 MJ. It is only 1/30 of the energy of ignition sugar dust and 1/60 from the energy required for ignition of wheat dust.

This flocculants often produce static electricity that causes spontaneous explosion flocculent dust. Add to dust flammable gases and vapours of flammable liquids, the probability of fire increases significantly. The researchers warn that in order to prevent the explosion of nanomaterials required the strictest precautions: the complete absence of sparks and a minimum of friction, which causes a discharge of static electricity.
Prediction of science fiction

Scientists from the military Agency DARPA took the improvement of the so-called "smart dust" (smart dust). Its essence is to scatter from aircraft over the area of fighting thousands of tiny sensors-radio transmitters that are invisible to the enemy will track all its movements and actions.

As in the novel famous science-fiction writer Stanislaw LEM "Invincible", where terrible weapon of the future were not bulky space cruisers or tanks, and microscopic metal particles. Individually they were harmless dust, but joining together in the clouds turned into a powerful weapon. And only now, thanks to nanotechnology, the predictions of the science fiction becomes reality.

In addition, in the United States for several years has been the only institution in the world of nanotechnology for the soldiers at the Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT) - the temple of science are of world importance. The military is working all American nano elite. And in recent years it is occupied by improving the design of nanobots-killers.

New mechanisms will be in the body of the victim with the help of mechanical manipulators to destroy individual cells vital organs, causing the death that will look ordinary from asthma attack or sudden cardiac death. And kill this way you can not only individual, but also the whole city, factory, the army. Thousands launched into the air nanomask can stick round face, eyes, to block the arms or legs.

The other generated today nanorobots-killers can remind mosquitoes. But actually be microscopic devices with poison. Once inside the body, the mosquito-killer waits for a signal that can be sent by radio or satellite. And having received, open the capsule with poison. Specialists calculated: to kill all the people on Earth, quite a $ 50 billion "gnats". And this number can be stored in the same container.

These bloodthirsty "insects" and a whole army of killers stealth today makes the Pentagon. The U.S. lifted China, Israel, South Korea, Australia.