A single pentacene molecule was imaged by the team at IBM Research Zurich, for the first time with enough resolution to make out the atomic layout. This was done using an atomic force microscope, and here are the results:

 

 

Compared to the typical cartoon drawing you'd find in textbooks:

 

Article here.

 

A description of the Atomic Force Microscope from the article:

 

The AFM uses a sharp metal tip that acts like a tuning fork to measure the tiny forces between the tip and the molecule. This requires great precision as the tip moves within a nanometer of the sample.

 

'Above the skeleton of the molecular backbone (of the pentacene) you get a different detuning than above the surface the molecule is lying on,' Mr Gross said.

 

This detuning is then measured and converted into an image.

To stop the tip from absorbing the pentacene molecule, the researchers replaced the metal with a single molecule of carbon monoxide. This was found to be more stable and created weaker electrostatic attractions with the pentacene, creating a higher resolution image.

That's pretty f***ing cool.

Weird Science!!

That picture makes me dizzy.

So what type of new things can be done because of this finding?

I dunno. It's still at the basic research level. It confirms the theory of the shape of the molecule, though.

"so now that the search for Jason Gage's penis has been completed, scientists will now move on to trying to find other mythical creatures, such as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster."

ouch.

This doesn't strike me as that interesting. You can see planes of molecules using TEM, for example.

Picture's kinda of blurry... way to drop the ball nerds.

Edited September 4, 200916 yr by MattZakrowski

"so now that the search for Jason Gage's penis has been completed, scientists will now move on to trying to find other mythical creatures, such as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster."