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Posts Tagged ‘Atomic’

Video: First-ever look at crystals forming in real-time at atomic resolution

11 Oct

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have combined novel techniques to record the first-ever atomic resolution video of salt crystals as they form in real-time. The team used the novel technique of atomic-resolution real-time video recording and the similarly novel technique of conical carbon nanotube confinement to achieve this impressive feat.

Before diving in, it’s important to give context. Salt crystals, like other crystals such as snowflakes and diamonds, comprise repetitive arrangements of molecules. While crystals can take many different forms, something they all have in common is a highly ordered microscopic structure. The process of disorganized molecules arranging into an ordered crystalline structure is called nucleation. The time it takes for the first crystal to appear in this process is called primary nucleation time. Secondary nucleation is a new crystal structure being produced by a preexisting crystal.

Nucleation has been the subject of scientific study for centuries. Scientists have been able to observe molecules at an atomic level and see what a crystal looks like. Still, until now, nobody has observed the dynamic process of crystal formation. Observing the nucleation process should shed light on the process and help expand our understanding of molecular structure and crystallization.

Credit: American Chemical Society / University of Tokyo

‘One of our master’s students, Masaya Sakakibara, used SMART-EM to study the behavior of sodium chloride (NaCl) – salt,’ said Project Assistant Professor Takayuki Nakamuro. ‘To hold samples in place, we use atom-thick carbon nanohorns, one of our previous inventions. With the stunning videos Sakakibara captured, we immediately noticed the opportunity to study the structural and statistical aspects of crystal nucleation in unprecedented detail.’

SMART-EM is a single-molecule atomic-resolution real-time electronic microscopy technique developed by students at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo. The technique captures images at 25 frames per second.

Nakamuro and his team looked at Sakakibara’s videos and, per Phys.org, ‘were the first people ever to see tiny cuboid crystals made of tens of molecules of NaCl emerging from the chaotic mixture of separate sodium and chloride ions.’ They observed a statistical pattern in the frequency of crystal emergence that followed a normal distribution. A normal distribution of crystal emergence had long been a held theory but had yet to be verified through experiment.

Credit: American Chemical Society / University of Tokyo

University Professor Eiichi Nakamura added, ‘Salt is just our first model substance to probe the fundamentals of nucleation events. Salt only crystallizes one way. But other molecules, such as carbon, can crystallize in multiple ways, leading to graphite or diamond. This is called polymorphism, and no one has seen the early stages of the nucleation that leads to it. I hope our study provides the first step in understanding the mechanism of polymorphism.’

The team hopes to better understand polymorphism, which is an important process to produce various pharmaceutical and electronic components. To read more about the ongoing study, refer to ‘Capturing the Moment of Emergence of Crystal Nucleus from Disorder,’ by Takayuki Nakamuro, Masaya Sakakibara, Hiroki Nada, Koji Harano and Eiichii Nakamura.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Top Secret City: Oak Ridge, Birthplace of the Atomic Bomb

18 Feb

[ By Steph in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Thousands of people who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the 1940s had no idea what they were actually doing every day, performing their tasks as directed without asking questions, surrounded by constant reminders that they needed to keep their traps shut or else. It wasn’t until the United States bombed Hiroshima in 1945 that they learned they were processing uranium as part of The Manhattan Project, many of them exposed to radiation for years.

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Nicknamed the Secret City, the Atomic City and the City Behind the Fence, Oak Ridge was developed by the government on 56,000 acres of former farmland and remains a center of nuclear research and development today. In photos from the World War II era, published by the U.S. Department of Energy and taken by Oak Ridge’s only authorized photographer Ed Westcott, we see the many signs reminding residents that their discretion was paramount, even if they didn’t exactly know what they were keeping secret.

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While part of the city was open to the public, all visitors were required to go through military checkpoints on their way in and out. Other areas were strictly restricted. If anyone asked too many questions, they were out of a job and a home.

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In the decades that have passed since then, some workers have spoken publicly about their experience, talking about the strange clicking instruments they had to wave over all sorts of objects, including uniforms. That instrument, of course, was checking for radiation.

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In addition to its many official facilities, Oak Ridge became home to ten schools, seven theaters, 17 restaurants and cafeterias, 13 supermarkets, 17 churches, a symphony orchestra and enough prefabricated modular homes for its 75,000 residents.

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Two years after World War II ended, Oak Ridge transitioned to civilian control, but retains the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the supercomputer Titan was developed in 2012. Tours of the original facility are offered, but there’s so much interest, you have to add your name to a waiting list if you want to get in.

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[ By Steph in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Day of the Atomic Beast 3-D (yt3d:enable=true) Youtube 3D

17 Feb

Radioactive cats become gigantic monsters and wreak havoc on Lego Land. A post apocalyptic stereoscopic vision of the future so horrific you must sign a waiver before viewing. Did I mention it’s in 3D?
Video Rating: 4 / 5

The Slingshot Channel now also produces 3D slingshot videos! Here is the first example: www.youtube.com In order to shoot in 3D, a special videocam is needed. The camera presented here is a setup of two HD JVC camcorders, mounted side by side so they record stereoscopic material. The video also shows different glasses, which are needed to view the stereoscopic youtube videos.