I'm sorry, I'm having image upload problems. But this link is totally worth gaping at.
A team at IBM have used an AFM, a carbon monoxide molecule as a "tuning fork", to record the image of a Pentacene molecule, commonly used in solar cells. It's a very regular molecule, with 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms in a neat array. My little heart totally geeked out looking at the two pictures, the one of the actual, real tiny single little molecule, compared with the graphical mock-up of the atomic array.
This is the first time Atomic Force Microscopy has been used to image a single molecule. It is already done routinely using scanning tunneling microscopy which uses the variation in quantum tunneling current between a probe and the surface as it is rastered across.
AFM tips are all kinds of exciting to scientists, compared to scanning Tunneling microscopy, because the AFM can physically move a single molecule around on a surface, hopefully with precision. New technologies are opening up!
Edited, Aug 31st 2009 11:30am by Aripyanfar
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First ever single molecule "imaged" with AFMFollow
Neato.
What's bred in the bone will not out of the flesh.
That is weirdly compelling, although I have no insight at all into its potential use.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Samira wrote:
That is weirdly compelling, although I have no insight at all into its potential use.
If they can nudge single molecules around physically, nano machines and tiny chemical laboratories, and tiny chips on which biochemicals for medicines are adhered all probably become easier to make.
But I just loved looking at a real piece of something of very very little physical. It's hardly there. The "light path" between each atom, we don't even see that actual electron whizzing around. just the path of probability made visible.
that is pretty cool
It looks pretty blurry. I think I see bigfoot in that picture.
"I have lost my way
But I hear a tale
About a heaven in Alberta
Where they've got all hell for a basement"
But I hear a tale
About a heaven in Alberta
Where they've got all hell for a basement"
The guys that did it look exactly the way I expected they would look.
I've got a friend who works for IBM researching this kind of thig. Pretty neat, I've gotta get his take on it.
publiusvarus wrote:
we all know liberals are well adjusted american citizens who only want what's best for society. While conservatives are evil money grubbing scum who only want to sh*t on the little man and rob the world of its resources.
Very very cool.
Nice to see over a hundred years of atomic theory proven with one single fuzzy image.
Nice to see over a hundred years of atomic theory proven with one single fuzzy image.
GOGO 300GHZ processors and laptops with 3 year battery life.
Quote:
Nice to see over a hundred years of atomic theory proven with one single fuzzy image.
Images don't prove, measurement of forces do.
Just as Planned.
Timelordwho wrote:
Quote:
Nice to see over a hundred years of atomic theory proven with one single fuzzy image.
Images don't prove, measurement of forces do.
So if I wanted to prove your mother was massive, I'd use a gravimeter rather than an imaging satellite?
Edited, Aug 31st 2009 6:14pm by Kavekk
Quote:
So if I wanted to prove your mother was massive, I'd use a gravimeter rather than an imaging satellite?
Or measuring tape.
Just as Planned.
Considering the measurements in nanometers were included along with the image, I think it counts.
It makes you awe a bit at how accurately physicists depicted the shape of something they could neither see nor feel.
Edited, Aug 31st 2009 6:41pm by trickybeck
Hmmm, interesting - I was reading about how the microscope works. As Aripyanfar said, it's sort of like a tuning fork. Or really more like a record needle. The needle makes contact with the surface of the object, and a laser reads how the needle bounces up and down. So they're not actually recording light that's reflecting off the molecule itself, which is kinda disappointing to me for some reason.
Wow, pretty cool.
It's gotta be pretty exciting for chemists to see that the structures they've eeked out over the years, based on the various properties of the atoms seems to be pretty much on the mark.
The molecule they used is particularly interesting if anyone recalls the oddity of the benzene ring and it's rather unusual ringlike covalent bonding.
It's gotta be pretty exciting for chemists to see that the structures they've eeked out over the years, based on the various properties of the atoms seems to be pretty much on the mark.
The molecule they used is particularly interesting if anyone recalls the oddity of the benzene ring and it's rather unusual ringlike covalent bonding.
Alma wrote:
I lost my post
Yeah, benzene rings were one of my favourites back in high school chemistry. Very neat, very logical. Pretty. Turn up just about everywhere.
trickybeck wrote:
So they're not actually recording light that's reflecting off the molecule itself, which is kinda disappointing to me for some reason.
Or break it apart due to having enough energy per photon to easily break bonds, thereby rendering an attempt to view it useless.
Aripyanfar wrote:
If they can nudge single molecules around physically, nano machines and tiny chemical laboratories, and tiny chips on which biochemicals for medicines are adhered all probably become easier to make.
IBM also did that in 1989.
http://nanotechnologysite.info/nanotechnology/1989-i-b-m-spelled-in-xenon-atoms/
As I recall, they also used AFM to image it, but that was atoms on a surface, not a single molecule.
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