Molecule Anatomy Imaged for First Time

First off let me say that the search button is not working for me so if this has already been posted I am sorry .

www.physorg.com...

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, IBM researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have taken a 3D image of an individual molecule. Using an atomic force microscope, the researchers constructed a "force map" of pentacene, an organic molecule just 1.4 nanometers long. As the researchers explain, the technique is roughly analogous to how an x-ray machine images bones in the human body by looking through flesh. In this case, the scientists could look through the electron cloud and see the atomic backbone of the molecule.

www.youtube.com...

Edit to add video



[edit on 30-8-2009 by Max_TO]

Thank you very much for posting this.

Absolutely stunning piece of ingenuity and technology. This makes me wonder how long will it take for them to find yet another curiosity the quantum theory can't explain without adding a few more free parameters.

Kind regards, M.

You should have said something about Obama's BC in the thread title, maybe that would garner more of a response ;(.

Sad how these amazing scientific discoveries that are posted daily receive little to no response. Perhaps using this technique scientists will be able to learn a few tricks from nature and maybe find some short cuts or improvements on how to build structures on an atomic scale.

reply to post by Steilhe


HAHAHA how right you are .

Yes thats right, if its not "OMG !! they are hiding real molecules from us", no one will read it here on ATS. Sad but true.

I wanted to post this news here, but did not, for this reason. Other forums where you will find more scientific minded people are more suitable for such matters. My fav is slashdot, where this was discussed in depth a few days back.

Anyway, on the topic, single atoms were imaged much before this, but molecules escaped those STEMs. This is from 2006 :

www.news.cornell.edu...

reply to post by Steilhe


Well now, that would make sense, wouldn't it? ATS is a conspiracy community, not a science community. Where is the entertaining conspiracy here?

That said, this is remarkable! To think that when I was in jr high the text books still considered the theory that matter was structured (or not so structured) like pudding!

How quickly we learn in this modern world.

reply to post by cavscout


Ahhh but why have a science and tech forum then if its a conspiracy website

Also judging by the most active threads at any particular time its just as much a political forum as anything else.

I was just pointing out that this kind of stuff that EVERYONE should know about or want to read about is normally the least viewed and active which IMO is kinda sad

I love this site though don't get me wrong

IMO cool new scientific studies are just as interesting a read as any conspiracy thread is. Starred and flagged

Thank you for this information. Its sad that stuff like this gets passed on and something like obamas birth card or " why do i feel this way " gets more attention. Sometimes this sie has good posts and today is one of them. I hope in my time we can make events like this one a more noticable event instead of Mj tributesa and all day coverage of a dead sen.

Wow, just wow. I really don't know what to say. I was under the impression that we where still years from molecular imaging. Thanks for the info OP, s&f

[edit on 31-8-2009 by DaMod]

Would have never thought that they looked exactly like the texbook depicts them.

Cool thread!

that is an absolutely amazing image .....and it does look like itdoes in science books ....so cool

Originally posted by daniel_g
Would have never thought that they looked exactly like the texbook depicts them.

Cool thread!

This is exactly what I was thinking. I was a little shocked, actually. That might have something to do with my lack of understanding in how they got those mockups to begin with, though.