Atomic bond types discernible in single-molecule images

[ajnl]

Apparently it is possible now to make single molecule pictures and from those pictures it is possible to see what kind of atomic bonds are holding them together. These images are at such a small scale that vibrations in and outside the test area can/will effect the outcome of the image. Even temperature vibrations will make the image blurry. This is why the keep the apparatus at -268 degrees C (-450.4 degrees F)

 

A pioneering team from IBM in Zurich has published single-molecule images so detailed that the type of atomic bonds between their atoms can be discerned.

 

The same team took the first-ever single-molecule image in 2009 and more recently published images of a molecule shaped like the Olympic rings.

 

The new work opens up the prospect of studying imperfections in the "wonder material" graphene or plotting where electrons go during chemical reactions.

 

The team, which included French and Spanish collaborators, used a variant of a technique called atomic force microscopy, or AFM.

 

AFM uses a tiny metal tip passed over a surface, whose even tinier deflections are measured as the tip is scanned to and fro over a sample.

 

The IBM team's innovation to create the first single molecule picture, of a molecule called pentacene, was to use the tip to pick up a single, small molecule made up of a carbon and an oxygen atom.

 

The first single molecule picture (2009) Link:

 

 

The pictures have become a lot better since 2009, here is the link to the full article.

[rajaah thunder]

whoosh .. tatz an amazing piece of techno