See the First Images Ever of an Electron Orbiting a Nucleus
- Posted on August 29, 2011 at 3:29pm by
Liz Klimas
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That’s not a caterpillar. What you’re seeing are images taken using an atomic force microscopy (AFM) showing — for the first time ever — an electron in orbit around the nucleus of an atom.
These images aren’t just modern-looking works of art; they confirm what physicists had only hypothesized and modeled until now. Gizmodo has more:
An atomic force microscope was used to capture the electron pathways, presented as darker gray bands in the other two images at center and upper left. As a quick refresher on AFMs, they’re the microscopes that use atom-sized needles to measure individual atoms that pass underneath the pointy end.
Dvice.com explains more about how the AFM works:
It’s like a very very very very very small bit of charcoal that you can rub on tracing paper placed over a surface to view carved patterns that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to see.
To operate, the tip of the AFM (probe) moves across a surface, and when it encounters an atom or a molecule, the tip bumps up a little bit as it passes over. This jiggles a laser beam, which records precisely how much the tip was deflected. By making a bunch of passes, the AFM can gradually build up a sort of topographic map of a surface. It‘s also possible to place a single atom on the very tip of the AFM’s probe, and by watching how that atom interacts with the atoms that it passes over, you can tell what’s underneath.
Dvice.com goes on to explain how electron’s “orbits” are more like waves and there is a certain probability that an electron will exist in more than one spot at once:
Carbon dioxide atoms have a very distinctive pattern of electron orbitals of their own, and by watching how those orbitals interact with a molecule, the researchers were able to make a map of where there definitely weren’t electrons, and that let them estimate where the actual electron orbitals were and generate an image.
Top: Images of electrons in orbit around a nucleus. Bottom: Models of electrons in orbit around a nucleus. (Photo: Nature)
The image above is a pentacene molecule with its electron orbit pathways. The abstract published in nature says that using AFM will be useful for studying molecular structures, molecular bonding and chemical reactions at the molecular level, among other applications.
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mpierce
Posted on September 5, 2011 at 5:03pmCool!
Report Post »CulperGang
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 11:48pmBrilliant. Nobody is going to tell me that that organized design came out of a chaotic bang. We are looking at a whole lot of forethought. Wow! I am looking at an atom!!! amazing.
Report Post »Can somebody besides God make gold so the prize comes down due to lack of ratity. Wreck Obamas gold rush.
OneofMany
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 7:33pmHow does this technology work with larger molecules?? I just remember when I was using either an infrared spectrophotometer or a mass spectrometer and this new technology looks a whole lot better. But only if you can discern large molecules as well.
Report Post »jerrygar
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 7:17pmI thought it was a photo…of the vastness…inside of Hillary’s head.
Report Post »SquidVetOhio
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 4:40pmGood thing all this highly intelligent, highly organized sub-atomic stuff happend by random during the Big Bang. I would’ve thought you would need an infinitely intelligent God to create something like this. \note sarcasm.
Report Post »plunderpower
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 6:27pmHere’s some chewing gum for the Koolaid embalmed brain: Evolutionists state change is good and that interdependent systems are not valid. Environmentalists state change is bad and that interdependent systems need protected.
Report Post »DanWesson455
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 1:23pmOK. How fast do they move around the nucleus? Anyone….
Report Post »ejbonk
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 11:38amAnd just exactly ,how does this make life in these united state of america or the world for that matter better? How exactly will this Information,bring forth products to better mankind?
Report Post »DrFrost
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 12:01pmUnderstanding the atom better could lead to new novel compounds that could be used in anything from medicine to better batteries to more efficient jet engines to room temperature super conductors to cold fusion. All of these could potentially have a huge positive impact on the lives of people.
Report Post »imreddog
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 10:24amI think that I’ve got it now.
Report Post »One plus One is Two….
Hey teacher, what’s one?
Cat
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 8:12amCuriously, the uniformity at the atomic level is organized chaos infinitely.
Report Post »Firebrand
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 11:41amare you alive or dead?
Report Post »Tony Sanchez
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 7:16amSo you really don’t see the electron, only its path. It’s moving too fast to actually see. Still neat.
Report Post »Firebrand
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 1:15amI am in the process of reading the Nature Chemistry paper that this was reported in. It’s very cool. The orbitals have never been “visualized” before (not like this anyway). That’s the take home. What is really cool is that in some of the other figures from the paper you can actually see that double bonds (pi orbitals) are shorter and single bonds (sigma orbitals) are longer. Pretty cool considering that we constantly draw structures like benzene with approximately equidistant bond lengths. Extrapolate that data and apply it to nucleic acids, proteins, and the way we predict inter/intramolecular interactions… Just awesome.
Report Post »Firebrand
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 1:32amI wanted to add before someone else does, that I know we’ve known for a long time that bond lengths are different. I was referring to the ability to “see” the differences and how we would be able to visually follow changes in the bond lengths during some interaction(s).
Report Post »4stmichael
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 3:22amCool!
Report Post »Patrick Flynn
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 1:01amDon’t let Obama see this, he will demand all atoms share their electrons equally. Its not fair that some atoms have more electrons than others. We need a minimum electron law so that each atom may have a living wage of electrons. And lets not talk about those fat cat super conductors squirting off electrons at the drop of a hat; its like they own corporate jets or something. Its all a conspiracy of Big Cu, Big Ag, and Big Au.
Report Post »Firebrand
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 1:26amThe funny thing if you add up all the atomic numbers and divide by the the total (x+(x-1)…n)/111, where x and n are =111, you get 56. The atom with an atomic weight of 56 is …… Barium.
=o)
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 12:17amAn electron, an atom, and a nucleus walked into a bar….wait …have you heard this one?
Report Post »Crane Guy
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 6:58amLol
Report Post »SageInWaiting
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 10:43pmIn my electrical engineering university days more than a few years ago, I needed to take two take two similar courses: Atomic and Nuclear Physics in the physics department, which we lovingly called “A-bomb” and Semiconductor Physics which we called… well, I guess I can’t really say that here.. in the EE department. The stuff was spookie then; reading this, it’s still spookie today… it just has better pictures.
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 9:59pmHow you BBQ that thing?
Report Post »HiredMind Blog
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 9:23pmUmmm, “first time ever”? I’m 43, and I remember seeing AFM pictures when I was a teenager.
Report Post »drphil69
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 11:04amFirst time ever visualizing ELECTRON pathways.
Several years ago, in the 90′s I think, IBM spelled out their name in atoms and showed it in a picture using AFM.
Report Post »Bennie Franklin
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 9:00pmNow all they have to do is figure out how they can weaponize it like they do with everything else they discover
Report Post »Libby Tarian
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 8:21pmThis happens all the time at my house.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 7:48pmIt’s amazing to see more of what God has created and anticipation of what more is to come!
Report Post »Duddio
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 10:32pmThe more discoveries that man makes, the more in awe I am of God’s creativity & power…. =)
http://rightrevrowland.com
Report Post »lel2007
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 11:39pmYes. And he creates it all for Man’s wonder and delight.
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 7:45pmThat isn’t an electron. That‘s Chris Matthews and that isn’t a nucleus…..that is Obama’s butt !
Report Post »Brents Torts
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 7:32pmVery cool. I look forward to learning more about this research.
Report Post »Conservative Humanist
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 5:59pm2.82 x 10-15 m.
Report Post »Secessionista
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 5:48pmNice pictures of a pretty caterpillar. Now, can they please tell us how large an electron is? (Spoiler alert, they still don’t know the answer to that one).
Report Post »JLinc
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 6:03amElectron’s are considered point-like particles, but as far as the size of their charge:
1. R(E) (point-like charge radius)——————-<1 x 10-16 cm
2. R(0) (classical radius)————————–2.82 x 10-13 cm
3. R(C) (Compton sized electron)——————3.86 x 10-11 cm
4. R(E) Effective (R(E) = 2/5 RC)——————-1.5 x 10-11 cm
5. R(E) Effective – Corr (R(E) = XX R(C)————-1.3 x 10-11 cm
6. R(H) (based on Compton radius)——————–4 x 10-12 cm
7. R(H) (based on classical radius) —————–4.09 x 10-12 cm
8. R(H) QM-Corrected (R(H) = (sqrt of 3)*R(C))—-6.69 x 10-11 cm
9. Scattering results before 1992 imply————–< 1 x 10-16 cm
10. Scattering results very recently imply————< 1 x 10-18 cm
But I'm pretty sure your question was rhetorical and you were just trying to be smarmy at those stupid scientists and all the things they don't know. :P
Report Post »LOLReally
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 12:09pmooo smackdown haha.
Report Post »SquidVetOhio
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 4:41pmWho cares? I know they turn my lights on!
Report Post »SquidVetOhio
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 4:42pmThat’s right you hole-theorist. Current flows negative to positive, thus electron movement.
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