Scientists Image the 'Anatomy' of a Molecule (w/ Video)

[Jamie Tainton]

August 28, 2009
For the first time, IBM researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have taken a 3D image of an individual molecule. Using an atomic force microscope, the researchers constructed a "force map" of pentacene, an organic molecule just 1.4 nanometers long. As the researchers explain, the technique is roughly analogous to how an x-ray machine images bones in the human body by looking through flesh. In this case, the scientists could look through the electron cloud and see the atomic backbone of the molecule.