Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
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Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
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Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#2[deleted]
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#3This is an insanely cool picture.
Some quick napkin math (please let me know if I'm way off base here): in the second pic, the electrodes are ~74 pixels apart and the strontium atom is ~2 pixels wide.
The electrodes are ~0.078 inches apart, so these 2 pixels represent ~0.0021 inches (or ~0.05334 mm).
Google tells me that the Van der Waals radius of a single strontium atom is 255 pm.
So the diameter of the actual atom is something like 10,000x smaller than the space represented by these pixels. Crazy!
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#4Awesome pic - and just as mind blowing.
Is there a 4k version of the pic?
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#5Awesome picture!
Could someone explain to me how a DSLR camera can capture an image of a single atop? I thought atoms were very very small, like so small only an electron microscope could "see" them. Maybe this device has been misrepresented and it is holding a small amount of atoms rather than a single one?
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#6Awesome picture! Could someone explain to me how a DSLR camera can capture an image of a single atop? I thought atoms were very very small, like so small only an electron microscope could "see" them. Maybe this device has been misrepresented and it is holding a small amount of atoms rather than a single one?
From the article:
> When illuminated by a laser of the right blue-violet color, the atom absorbs and re-emits light particles sufficiently quickly for an ordinary camera to capture it in a long exposure photograph.
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#7This is an insanely cool picture. Some quick napkin math (please let me know if I'm way off base here): in the second pic, the electrodes are ~74 pixels apart and the strontium atom is ~2 pixels wide. The electrodes are ~0.078 inches apart, so these 2 pixels represent ~0.0021 inches (or ~0.05334 mm). Google tells me that the Van der Waals radius of a single strontium atom is 255 pm. So the diameter of the actual atom…
I was just thinking that the atom has to be letting off (reflecting) some serious quantity of light in order for just one to appear with off the shelf camera equipment.
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#8Awesome picture! Could someone explain to me how a DSLR camera can capture an image of a single atop? I thought atoms were very very small, like so small only an electron microscope could "see" them. Maybe this device has been misrepresented and it is holding a small amount of atoms rather than a single one?
From the article: > When illuminated by a laser of the right blue-violet color, the atom absorbs and re-emits light particles sufficiently quickly for an ordinary camera to capture it in a long exposure photograph.
Ah, missed that. Thanks :)
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#9Awesome picture! Could someone explain to me how a DSLR camera can capture an image of a single atop? I thought atoms were very very small, like so small only an electron microscope could "see" them. Maybe this device has been misrepresented and it is holding a small amount of atoms rather than a single one?
From the article: > When illuminated by a laser of the right blue-violet color, the atom absorbs and re-emits light particles sufficiently quickly for an ordinary camera to capture it in a long exposure photograph.
That explanation doesn't really satisfy. Perhaps, based on a large body of experimental evidence, it is known that the number of atoms present can be determined by the apparent brightness. Perhaps it's something totally different. Regardless, it would be helpful if the author/photographer/somebody explained the rationale that makes them confident that this is only a single atom.
Re: Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest
#10[deleted]