See the stunning image of the atom in the highest resolution ever captured

Here is an image of the atom, magnified 100 million times, taken by researchers at Cornell University, of a sample of praseodymium crystals.

Photo from Guinness From the records, literally. It is what researchers at Cornell University took from a crystalline sample com. praseodimioIt is a silver-colored metal that belongs to the group Lanthanides. Zoomed in 100 million times and at a resolution never seen before, it showed us what an atom looks like up close, very close indeed. The photo was worth it for them Guinness World Records in 2018 and could help scientists develop and design increasingly powerful and long-lasting technological tools.

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Scientists, especially David Mueller From Cornell University, I obtained the image using a technique called… Cyberpsychology. In other words, they fired a beam of electrons at the crystal (about a billion per second): allowing them to capture multiple layers tens to hundreds of individual atoms thick. The result is crazy.

Stacks of atoms

This is a similar technique to dodgeball. Imagine shooting these balls of electrons at opponents who are trying to hide (the atoms). While scientists can't see the targets, they can detect where their shots will land. And based on pattern From the specks created by the impact of these electrons, technological algorithms can calculate where atoms are located in a crystal sample and visualize their shapes. Previously, this technique was only used to image flat samples, one to a few atoms thick. But now we will have the opportunity to watch Whole stacks of atoms With truly amazing accuracy. The blur you see in the image is caused by oscillations of atoms.

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