Atom hauler.Atoms are everywhere, but you'd never know it. Even though these tiny building blocks of matter make up everything--from chairs to air--they're far too tiny to see with your own eyes. When scientists want to study atoms one at a time, however, they can use special, highly sensitive Adj. 1. highly sensitive - readily affected by various agents; "a highly sensitive explosive is easily exploded by a shock"; "a sensitive colloid is readily coagulated" microscopes to see them. Using these tools, called scanning tunneling microscopes scanning tunneling microscope, device for studying and imaging individual atoms on the surfaces of materials. The instrument was invented in the early 1980s by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, who were awarded the 1986 Nobel prize in physics for their work. (STMs), researchers can also move individual atoms around. Now, researchers in France and Germany have taken the technology one step further. They have found a way to gather up and move around atoms in bunches. Their work may help them eventually make and operate tiny, nanoscale machines. The key part of a scanning tunneling microscope is an extremely sharp needle that rides over the surface being examined. This sharp tip can even nudge nudge 1 tr.v. nudged, nudg·ing, nudg·es 1. To push against gently, especially in order to gain attention or give a signal. 2. a single atom from one place to another. But maneuvering more than one atom at a time is a difficult juggling act. To make the task easier, the researchers created a new, six-legged molecule. They called it hexa-t-butyl-hexaphenylbenzene (HB-HBP). The molecule is shaped like a hexagon (having six sides) and contains rings of carbon atoms. Six tripodlike feet support the structure. Like a minuscule minuscule Lowercase letters in calligraphy, in contrast to majuscule, or uppercase letters. Unlike majuscules, minuscules are not fully contained between two real or hypothetical lines; their stems can go above or below the line. vacuum cleaner vacuum cleaner, mechanical device using a draft of air to remove dust, loose dirt, or other particulate matter from dry surfaces. It is especially useful on highly textured surfaces, such as carpets and upholstery, that are difficult to clean by wiping or brushing. , it can easily slide over a copper surface, sucking up loose copper atoms. Experiments performed at very low temperatures and in practically airless conditions showed that an STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope) A microscope that can image down to the atomic level. An STM uses a piezoelectric tube with a tiny sharp tip at the end that is moved within nanometers of the object being sampled. tip can move an HB-HBP molecule that holds as many as five copper atoms that the molecule has picked up. Scientists can then use the STM tip to lift the carrier molecule, leaving the clump of atoms behind. The development is a major step toward making molecule-sized machines, scientists say. Someday, tiny sweepers might gather atoms together to form wires. Or they might pile atoms into regularly spaced mounds that, together, affect light or magnetic fields magnetic fields, n.pl the spaces in which magnetic forces are detectable; created by magnetostrictive ultrasonic scalers to cause the tips of instruments such as ultrasonic scalers to vibrate. in useful ways. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20051207/Note2.asp |
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