Saturday, August 29, 2009

Single Molecule Photographed...


Scientists from IBM have managed a first! And PCM is here to bring it to you... A first ever photo of a single molecule's internal atoms!

Featured above is a pentacene molecule. These things are ferocious! I mean... look at it! From within you can clearly see... um OK you can see there are 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms. To put it all in perspective, the space between each ring is about one million times smaller than a single grain of sand.

Now if only they could get it in focus!
Below is what the model of the molecule looks like. I'd swear they just took a picture of the model out of focus. I mean look at it. The photo even has the little bars connecting the atoms. So now when you see a model, you'll know that is really what things look like. Go figure. Class dismissed.

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