Images of chemical bonds
Atoms can be ‘seen’ using scanning tunnelling microsopy now for the first time chemical bonds can also be ‘seen’. A team from Berkley University in Califonia have for the first time captured images of chemical bonds rearranging themselves. In a paper published in Science they describe how they have used atomic force microscopy to capture images of carbon atoms in a ring rearranging. This is an advanced form of scanning probe microscopy used to detect individual atoms. It uses a very fine probe to interpret the electrical forces produced by molecules. As the tip of the probe is moved near the surface of a molecule it is deflected by different charges, producing an image of how the atoms and bonds are aligned. The images (two of which are shown below) which can be seen on the Wired website are startling and revealed some products from the rearrangement which were unexpected.
