ABSTRACT
It matters to nanotechnology for the same reasons it matters to every other field of engineering: people make stuff out of matter. We use it. Matter that can be used for something has its own name: material. Gold veins buried inside a mountain and carbon floating around in the air are not immediately useful. To be useful, material must be collected. Then we bang on it, or melt it, or attach it to other material, or rearrange it until it meets our needs. The study of materials is the study of matter for the purpose of using it.
