"SPRING BREAK ELECTRONS GONE WILD!"
Posted on 02/25/2008 10:54:25 AM PST by thefactor
Scientists have filmed an electron in motion for the first time, using a new technique that will allow researchers to study the tiny particle's movements directly.
Previously it was impossible to photograph electrons because of their extreme speediness, so scientists had to rely on more indirect methods. These methods could only measure the effect of an electron's movement, whereas the new technique can capture the entire event.
Extremely short flashes of light are necessary to capture an electron in motion. A technology developed within the last few years can generate short pulses of intense laser light, called attosecond pulses, to get the job done.
"It takes about 150 attoseconds for an electron to circle the nucleus of an atom. An attosecond is 10-18 seconds long, or, expressed in another way: an attosecond is related to a second as a second is related to the age of the universe," said Johan Mauritsson of Lund University in Sweden.
Using another laser, scientists can guide the motion of the electron to capture a collision between an electron and an atom on film.
The length of the film Mauritsson and his colleagues made corresponds to a single oscillation of a wave of light . The speed of the event has been slowed down for human eyes. The results are detailed in the latest issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.
Mauritsson says the technique could also be used to study what happens in an atom when an electron leaves its shell.
what would be the practical implications for this type of technology?
please change the title to read “Electron” please. duh!
Do they really orbit the nucleus? I thought it was more of a probabilistic buzzing.
One atom told the other “I just lost an electron”.
The second atom said “Are you sure?”
The first atom replied, “Yeah, I’m positive.”
i do not think it is a set orbit like the planets around the sun, but the space is so small i do not think it would be hard to find one and film its movements. of course, the last chemistry i took was in high school.
Immediately after making it’s first appearance on film the Electron went on a drug and alcohol fueled bender in Beverly Hills and was sent to rehab several times before being committed.
As they say on the teacher sex discussion: “This thread is useless without pictures.”
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=080222-ElectronRide
Ping of interest!
This sounds fascinating, and maybe we can get some knowledgeable types in here. Nobody jump on my ignorance, but what (if anything) does this mean for the uncertainty principle?
Perhaps I didn’t see the electron but if I did, it looks like accreation rings.
Are the accreations smaller particles yet?
Thanks for the news and thread. I love science data, and the faster and smaller and more far-out the data the better.
I would assume that a photograph of an electron would crash the wave function, then a attosecond later it would be a wave again. Would this work out in the “real world” aspects of wave/particle theory?
What’s the shutter speed for that?
i’m not sure. probably taken from a young japanese girls camera phone.
actually it looks cool but what the heck is it? looks like an alien space cloud from an early star trek episode.
That's "ten to the negative 18th power", to clarify. ;)
i saw that and just skipped over it. i knew i was missing something. guess they don’t have superscript. thanks!
The next thing will be electro-porn.
The title is no more true now than when the article was posted before.
"SPRING BREAK ELECTRONS GONE WILD!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.