Atoms under the microscope
Moderator: Executive
-
- Executive
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:31 am
- Location: UK
Atoms under the microscope
So I have just started a PhD in Physics and am studying a topic in an area known as Scanning Probe Microscopy.
The following image is one I took today and was taken using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope. The image shows rows of copper atoms, which is bloody insane; this is the first time I've managed atomic resolution with the microscope! Copper is quite a hard surface to image (as opposed to say Silicon) so I was really pleased with it.
The image is 3nm across (0.000000003m).
The following image is one I took today and was taken using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope. The image shows rows of copper atoms, which is bloody insane; this is the first time I've managed atomic resolution with the microscope! Copper is quite a hard surface to image (as opposed to say Silicon) so I was really pleased with it.
The image is 3nm across (0.000000003m).
BF3 || C2 Lead Operative || C3 Brigadier General || C4 Major General || C5 Private First Class || C6 General
BF4 || C1 TA || C2 TA || C3 TA || C4 Serviceman || C5 Duke
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Are you doing the PhD at Nottingham? I'm always watching the videos with prof. Moriarty, Merrifield and co. They are really entertaining! http://www.youtube.com/user/sixtysymbols
Re: Atoms under the microscope
So what can you actually learn from this image or similar?
-
- Executive
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:31 am
- Location: UK
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Could someone move this to the Tavern? It's in the wrong place I think.
As well as using the microscope to image surfaces, you can also use it to manipulate the surface. There is quite a lot of interest in picking up individual atoms and making structures/images out of them.
Yup, Prof Moriarty is actually my PhD supervisor! He's a pretty cool guy as you would imaginemrBLUE9 wrote:Are you doing the PhD at Nottingham? I'm always watching the videos with prof. Moriarty, Merrifield and co. They are really entertaining! http://www.youtube.com/user/sixtysymbols
You can learn a lot about the physical and electronic properties of the surface, as well as anything that is on the surface. What I will be looking at is the electronic structure of molecules that have been placed on a similar surface.RazY70 wrote:So what can you actually learn from this image or similar?
As well as using the microscope to image surfaces, you can also use it to manipulate the surface. There is quite a lot of interest in picking up individual atoms and making structures/images out of them.
BF3 || C2 Lead Operative || C3 Brigadier General || C4 Major General || C5 Private First Class || C6 General
BF4 || C1 TA || C2 TA || C3 TA || C4 Serviceman || C5 Duke
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Can you turn it into gold yet?
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Can you turn it into gold yet? I know they could in ye olde days, cause I read about it in a book I got from the library.
-
- Posts: 483
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:20 am
Re: Atoms under the microscope
That is awesome! Mind if I share it on facebook? Some other people I know might like it as well.
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Only experimental or also using computations?Calloutman wrote: What I will be looking at is the electronic structure of molecules that have been placed on a similar surface.
some friends did compute adsorption processes on surfaces, more focused on the chemistry aspect though.
Wat ne Wuchtbrumme!
- BotoloLover
- Supporting Member
- Posts: 193
- Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 3:54 pm
- Location: Spaghettiland
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Why the hell I discover something like this 27 years after its invention? That's friggin' cool. Too bad it doesn't work on a 3-dimensional plane, or Mendel knows how cool an imaged protein could be.
-
- Executive
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:31 am
- Location: UK
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Haha no, not yet.BRUMMIE wrote:Can you turn it into gold yet? I know they could in ye olde days, cause I read about it in a book I got from the library.
Go for it.ICallIDTheft wrote:That is awesome! Mind if I share it on facebook? Some other people I know might like it as well.
I'm doing both. Hopefully what I simulate and what I scan will match up. The simulations involve quite a bit of chemistry so I'm sure there is some overlap with what your friend was doing.Jokerle wrote:Only experimental or also using computations?Calloutman wrote: What I will be looking at is the electronic structure of molecules that have been placed on a similar surface.
some friends did compute adsorption processes on surfaces, more focused on the chemistry aspect though.
BF3 || C2 Lead Operative || C3 Brigadier General || C4 Major General || C5 Private First Class || C6 General
BF4 || C1 TA || C2 TA || C3 TA || C4 Serviceman || C5 Duke
-
- Supporting Member
- Posts: 580
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:59 pm
Re: Atoms under the microscope
Transmuting Copper into Gold will be essentially impossible until we invent a process where we can reliably add a specific (and large, in this case)number of protons. We've made Gold from Mercury by knocking the 1 neutron difference off and having the resulting Isotope of Mercury destabilize into Gold (losing the 1 Proton difference). Even harder is irradiating Platinum (adding 1 Proton/Neutron) in a nuclear reactor and hoping you get lucky and get Gold (and turning Platinum into Gold is crazy stupid from a rarity standpoint). Lead, the oft-referenced starting material for transmutation, would require quite a lengthy process of 'neutron therapy', and its isotopes are more likely to break down into materials unsuitable for conversion to Gold. Even if you were really lucky and somehow managed to strip Lead in the right way to end up with Gold, it would be so god damned radioactive you couldn't use it near things you preferred staying alive.BRUMMIE wrote:Can you turn it into gold yet? I know they could in ye olde days, cause I read about it in a book I got from the library.
/edit
On thread topic; I wish I could play around that low. The furthest I'll ever get to go is 1,000x most likely, and it gets kind boring around there when you're looking at metals...http://imgur.com/a/iLQHn