Sep 1, 2009

Science Scene - Atomic Force Microscope

A shout out to Slapinions Dan who posted this originally "Finally, using an Atomic Force Microscope, researchers at IBM have taken the first ever photograph of a single molecule. The carbon rings and the positions of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule can clearly be seen. It may look like a piece of honeycomb, but this lattice-shaped image is the first ever close-up view of a single molecule."

Scientists from IBM used an atomic force microscope (AFM) to reveal the chemical bonds within a molecule.


The experiment was also performed inside a high vacuum at the extremely cold temperature of -268C to avoid stray gas molecules or atomic vibrations from affecting the measurements.

I get the feeling there will not be any practical applications for a while :o)

3 comments:

  1. Not that there will be any apps for this, but I do think that it is another step closer to solving the riddle of what we call life. Now that we can see what a single molecule is, we can find out how it does what it does, what makes it 'tick'.

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  2. You never know what practical applications something like this might have. Very cool!

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  3. I'm with Beth, you never know what could come of this. I recently heard scientists have been able to create "artificial" life out of bacteria.
    May be old news to a science person like you but I found it very interesting.

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Tell Me What You Think, Don't Make me go Rogue on you :o)