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Scientists Weigh Smallest Mass Ever

Posted by Zonk on from the teeeeeeeeny-tiiiiiiiiny-thingie dept.

PaSTE writes "From the article, 'US scientists have managed to measure the mass of a cluster of xenon atoms at just a few billionths of a trillionth of a gram - or a few zeptograms. The record measurement is in the mass range of individual protein molecules, and the detection was made using sensitive scales developed at Caltech.' Another big leap forward for nanotechnology."

3 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A few xenon atoms.. Whoppie-doo by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think they mean DIRECTLY measured.

    --



    I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
  2. Some more info by karvind · · Score: 5, Informative

    Professor Roukes' homepage has a link to his earlier published paper on attogram mass detection (2004). The abstract mentions that mass sensing of individual molecules will be realizable with optimized NEMS devices. Also there is link to paper which discusses the ultimate limit to mass sensing based on NEMS. Needless to say that so far it is not the physics of these nanostructures but the extrinsic amplifier noise which limited the measurement.

  3. Re:1 zeptogram = 2.20462262 × 10-24 pounds by pmc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Almost - it depends on the context:

    "The Board is the highest decision-making body in the company."

    and

    "The Board are split on the issue."

    See Economist Style Guide for the details.