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IBM Images a Single Molecule

Posted by kdawson on from the blow-it-up dept.

chrb writes "New Scientist is reporting that researchers at IBM Zurich have managed to image a single molecule in detail for the first time. In the images of a pentacene molecule, the bonds between the carbon atoms are visible as five linked rings."

5 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Impressive by ballpoint · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a very impressive image that's in the same league as the famous Hubble deep field image. Both images confirm what was already known, but in a more direct and visual way.

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  2. Re:Cool, but... by marcosdumay · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, TFA says they measured the repulsive force caused by Pauli exclusion principle. That means that their microscope was sensible to filled orbitals, not electrons.

    Anyway, you can't really take a picture of an electron bounded into an atom. The uncertainty principle makes it impossible so say exactly where around the atom the electron is. The only way to measure that is releasing the electron from its bound, and then, it says nothing about where it was just before you release it.

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  3. I'm inpressed by the chemists who deduced ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the structures of the molecule with such accuracy - without actually seeing it!

    Now, that's genius!

  4. Re:What Material Is the Pantacene Sitting On? by Bob-taro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It doesn't actually touch the molecules, because weak force cancels out the attraction.

    At this scale the meaning of words like "touch" gets a little fuzzy.

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  5. Look at the higher intesity at the ends by Chemisor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's interesting to see how the electrons bunch up at the ends. The aromatic delocalization clearly equalizes the energy levels of the bonds, making the entire molecule behave like a conductor, and concentrate charge at the extremes. Just as in a metal, electrons loosely float in the conduction band, it looks they do the same in pentacene, illustrating why graphite is such a good conductor.