Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I'm fascinated by this Moliclue


Guess of what the above picture is a photo*? (Hint: The hede is a hint that gives it away)

Its a picture of a single molecule of pentacene, according to the Daily Mail (via Volokh). Pentacene consists of 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms.

The five "rings" you can identify in this picture are five carbon atoms. The source says the hydrogen atoms around the carbon rings "can be seen;" I fail at that, unless its a reference to the dark circles above and below the rings.

Anyway, pretty neat. I wasn't aware that they could do anything like this. Of course, having said that, I will now find out that it happens all the time, probably since something like the 1800s.

*And yes, I did a single-armed hand stand-based summersault to avoid the dangling participle.

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