itfitzme
VIP Member
Researchers capture image of hydrogen atoms electron orbital for first time.
I am not one to start a new thread lightly but this struck as pretty big. As the author puts it, "It almost goes without saying this is a huge deal."
Researchers capture image of hydrogen atom?s electron orbital for first time | Science! | Geek.com
"An international team of researchers has managed for the first time to visualize the electron orbital of a hydrogen atom. The image was acquired with a revolutionary new instrument called a quantum microscope, which allows scientists to push the limits of quantum states and observe what was once only theory. It almost goes without saying this is a huge deal."
...
"A special lens was used to magnify the electrons as they were released by as much as 20,000 times (hence the microscope aspect). As more data points were acquired, an interference pattern built up which mirrored the actual structure of the wave function. When the experimental data was compared to the Schrödinger equation for the various excitation states, there was a statistically valid match. So it is likely that this is actually what hydrogens electron orbital looks like."
I like that last line, the typical scientific statement of general statistical confidence. *There is always that .000000001% chance that it would randomly ended up looking like this or even Mickey Mouse.
I am not one to start a new thread lightly but this struck as pretty big. As the author puts it, "It almost goes without saying this is a huge deal."
Researchers capture image of hydrogen atom?s electron orbital for first time | Science! | Geek.com
"An international team of researchers has managed for the first time to visualize the electron orbital of a hydrogen atom. The image was acquired with a revolutionary new instrument called a quantum microscope, which allows scientists to push the limits of quantum states and observe what was once only theory. It almost goes without saying this is a huge deal."
...
"A special lens was used to magnify the electrons as they were released by as much as 20,000 times (hence the microscope aspect). As more data points were acquired, an interference pattern built up which mirrored the actual structure of the wave function. When the experimental data was compared to the Schrödinger equation for the various excitation states, there was a statistically valid match. So it is likely that this is actually what hydrogens electron orbital looks like."
I like that last line, the typical scientific statement of general statistical confidence. *There is always that .000000001% chance that it would randomly ended up looking like this or even Mickey Mouse.
