A scientist captured an impossible photo of a single atom

That is extremely cool, and I agree that it is a very useful way to visualize this scale. It's a shame that it doesn't contain anything relatable for context.
 
Pfffft. I can do the same thing. But with just my cell phone.

And with 147ee527 atoms!


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it had been done in the 50's with an electron microscope, but nice pix..
 
Pretty cool.

The single atom itself is way, way, way smaller than the glow of light in the image.
When illuminated by a laser of the right blue-violet colour, the atom absorbs and re-emits light particles sufficiently quickly for an ordinary camera to capture it in a long exposure photograph.

I wonder how long the "long exposure" was.
 
Ehhh... if he captured it, it's not impossible. If it's impossible, he didn't capture it.
 
Reckon a Sony sensors camera would have given it more dynamic range
:band:
 
Looking at this, it's not making sense. An atom is between 1/10 and 1/2 a nanometer in diameter (approximately). Based on the text of the article, the distance between the electrode and the "atom" is ~1mm, which by my estimation makes the atom about 1/50 - 1/100 of a mm in diameter. So... how does 0.01 - 0.000000001??????
 
Looking at this, it's not making sense. An atom is between 1/10 and 1/2 a nanometer in diameter (approximately). Based on the text of the article, the distance between the electrode and the "atom" is ~1mm, which by my estimation makes the atom about 1/50 - 1/100 of a mm in diameter. So... how does 0.01 - 0.000000001??????

The article's title is incorrect. You're not seeing an image of an atom. You're seeing the light produced by one.
 

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