There's plenty of room at the bottom

The theory of chemical processes is based on theoretical physics. In this sense, physics supplies the foundation of chemistry. The biological example of writing information on a small scale has inspired to think of something that should be possible.

Suppose, to be conservative, that a bit of information is going to require a little cube of atoms 5 times 5 times 5 – that is 125 atoms. The magnetic properties on a very small scale are not the same as on a large scale; there is the domain problem involved. The electron microscope is not quite good enough, with the greatest care and effort, it can only resolve about 10 angstroms.

The wave length of the electron in such a microscope is only 1/20 of an angstrom. Atoms on a small scale behave like nothing on a large scale, for they satisfy the laws of quantum mechanics.