Gravity. It's the law.

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Research Team Discerns Atomic Bond Types From Image

A team of researchers at IBM has had astounding success at imaging things on the smallest of scales, and once again they have worked their magic and produced something completely out of this world. After producing an image of a molecule shaped like the Olympic Rings earlier this year, they have published this image and a paper in the journal, Science, in which the detail is so high that they are able to discern the types of atomic bonds present.

Using a technique called atomic force microscopy (AFM), the team was able to create this picture. Atomic force microscopy works through using a carbon monoxide molecule which effectively works as a recording needle (read: record player needle), as to pick up the minute vibrations.

In order to get a clear picture instead of a fuzzy mess, the experiment must be isolated from any vibrations in the lab. This means that too much warmth would lead to distortion also, so the experiment is kept at a chilly -268C.

In the image you can see just how long the atomic bonds are, with the bright and dark spots corresponding to higher and lower densities of electrons respectively.

That we can now see different physical properties of different bonds is really freaking awesome and this new ability will no doubt lend itself to future developments in many areas of science. (x)