Although first reports of cluster species date back to the 1940s,[2] cluster science emerged as a separate direction of research in the 1980s, One purpose of the research was to study the gradual development of collective phenomena which characterize a bulk solid.
For example, these are the color of a body, its electrical conductivity, its ability to absorb or reflect light, and magnetic phenomena such as ferro-, ferri-, or antiferromagnetism.
Paramagnetism is not a collective phenomenon, which means that the ferromagnetism of the macrostate was not conserved by going into the nanostate.
The question then was asked for example, "How many atoms do we need in order to obtain the collective metallic or magnetic properties of a solid?"
The study of atomic and molecular clusters also benefits the developing field of nanotechnology.