Archive → April, 2010
Scale to Weigh Atoms
Remember the old quetion about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Well even if nobody knows the answers to that one we can at least find out the weight of an atom. Scientist found that carbon nano tubes ultrathin fibers of carbon measuring only one atom thick can be used to determine the masses of atoms. Carbon nanotubes are a thousand times thinner than a human hair, a thousand times stronger than steel and are very good conductors of heat and electricity.
Since some carbon nanotubes can be semi conductors they can also function as a vibrating “string” that can measure the masses of an atom. If you are confused by this concept understand that a carbon nanotube is actually nothing more than a very htin and stiff piece of string that like all other strings can vibrate just as heavy string vibrate more slowly than light ones.