Dust off your chemistry knowledge, because a team of scientists from the University of California at Berkeley has stumbled upon a breakthrough that might influence what you remember from high school.
Using an atomic force microscope and a bit of luck, Berkeley Lab scientists captured the first-ever high-resolution images of a molecule breaking and reforming its bonds. The team was actually trying to create graphene nanostructures using a new, controlled approach to chemical reactions. (Graphene is an extremely strong, light carbon material valuable to both science and industry.) But their findings went in a different direction.
"We weren't thinking about making beautiful images; the reactions themselves were the goal," says Felix Fischer, one of the scientists involved. "Nobody has ever taken direct, single-bond-resolved images of individual molecules, right before and immediately after a complex organic reaction."
Prior to the discovery, all researchers could do was guess at what the bonding process looked like. (Before-and-after images appear above, as compared with the classic molecular structure diagrams; more are available here.) The new images, according to the team, will aid nanostructure research and maybe even lead to a new method of nanoscale electronic architecture.
Says Fischer: "Large discoveries lie ahead."
What other scientific breakthroughs have you seen or heard of recently? Share them with us in the comments.