A Boy and His Atom

Here at TechFarmer, we are always on the lookout for what we call "technology being used for good" and there are a lot of examples of that around and we will be posting more blogs which demonstrate that. Recently, we got very excited by stumbling upon a very unique way that IBM used its research technology to not only entertain us but also make us think about and enjoy science even more. While doing research do develop smaller data storage, the scientists at IBM got a great idea to create what Guinness Book of World Records calls the "Smallest Stop-Motion Film". The film consists of 240 frames that contain 240 still images and the images are taken on a molecular level, or to be exact 45 by 25 nanometers.

This is where it gets really neat! Each still image is composed of individual carbon monoxide molecules that are arranged and rearranged to represent a boy, a trampoline, an atom "ball", and the interaction between them. There is dancing, playing, and even bouncing on the trampoline. The research scientists used a microscope and a very tiny needle to attract the molecules while positioning the oxygen atoms in a specific way so they represent the dots that makes up the objects in the video. In order to tame the molecules, they were chilled to 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. How cool is that?!

If you would like to check out the video, click here.