Slashdot Mirror
The Sharpest Object Ever Made
ultracool writes "Forget the phrase 'sharp as a tack.' Now, thanks to new University of Alberta research, the popular expression might become, 'sharp as a single atom tip formed by chemically assisted spatially controlled field evaporation.' Maybe it doesn't roll off the tongue as easily, but considering the researchers have created the sharpest object ever made, it would be accurate."
single atom tip formed by chemically assisted spatially controlled field evaporation: SATFBCASCFE. Sharp as a SATFBCASCFE... hmmm maybe not.
(end of post)
"they were able to coat peripheral atoms near the peak with nitrogen"
Nitrogen?? That chunk who wears a dress-size seven? She sneezes crisco. Sharp? Yeah, like a marble. Wake me up when we get to Kate Moss waif-like Hydrogen. Then I can carve my initials on tubby Boron.
It sounds like science is catching up with the glass blades Raven carries in Neal Stephenson's book Snow Crash.
Dmitri "Raven" Ravinoff -- An Aleut native who works as a mercenary. His preferred weapons are glass knives - undetectable by security systems and reputed to be molecule-thin at the edges - and throwing spears. He travels on a motorcycle whose sidecar has been replaced with a hydrogen bomb that will automatically detonate if his heart stops beating.
On another technicality, isn't pencil lead actually made up of sheets a single molecule thick?
We could arm minjas (midget ninjas) with these molecular spears and graphite shurikens to make the real ultimate killing power even more ultimaterer.
liqbase
Well over time knives get dull from use. unless I'm mistaken, this one atom could easily break off, right? Wouldn't it be instantly dull?
As long as it is only used to poke really soft, non-abrasive things, you should be good to go.
Of course, some nay-sayers might ask why you would ever need The Sharpest Object Ever Made to poke holes in chocolate pudding, but who needs that kind of negativity?
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Well over time knives get dull from use. unless I'm mistaken, this one atom could easily break off, right? Wouldn't it be instantly dull?
"Such a pointy pyramid of metal atoms would normally just smudge away spontaneously..." I'll let you actually RTFA for the hilarious, biting conclusion.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Here is a picture.
5M x amplification
.
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
The dullest object ever made is being kept safe in the Oval Office.
Why the HELL is this modded Insightful.
Anyone can "stand up for what they believe", but it takes a very brave individual to change what they believe. - Loundry
or the fact that the three moderation categories don't add to 100%.
You are aware that that list only shows the three mods with the most percentage?
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Actually the Scanning Tunneling Microscope does not demand a single-atom tip (in the sense considered here). Rather, a reasonably sharp apex will have one atom which is slightly closer to the surface than its neighbors from which most of the electron tunneling takes place. A tip with a radius of curvature less than, say, 100 nanometers is generally sufficient for most STM usage. Problems can arise when the tip has multiple protrusions which are a roughly equal distance from the surface, especially when scanning larger surface features such as carbon nanotubes (as compared to an atomically flat surface).
That said, better tips mean better images, especially with larger surface features, and also lower field emission voltages, which means applications in electron microscopy and even flat-panel display technology.
That said, I've make single-atom tips (of the sort discussed in this article) in the lab on a regular basis over the past several years with an ion sputtering-based process, a technique that is not limited to tungsten (tungsten is hard, but oxidizes, meaning the tip will not withstand removal from an ultra-high vacuum environment). This is a very interesting technique, but claiming it to be the sharpest object ever made is certainly overstating the achievement.