HOW THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE WORKS.

USING THE PARTICLE WAVE DUALITY.

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Take a look at this period (.) One million atoms side by side fit comfortably in it’s dimensions. How do they see this stuff? At first with the Electron Microscope. In the 1920’s Physicists discovered every particle of matter has a certain kind of wave associated with it. These are called psi waves. The microscope shoots a thin stream of electrons which scans the area of the item being looked for, (eg) a few atoms. The psi waves of the electrons disturb the psi waves of the atoms. Other instruments then collect and record the patterns made by the electrons. In this manner the first clear image of a string of atoms — thorium atoms — was obtained. Thorium is a naturally occurring weakly radioactive chemical element, under consideration for use in a new generation of nuclear reactors — as an alternative source of fuel for the generation of electricity. Australia has an abundant supply of thorium.

1983 saw the development of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope, which also uses electrons psi waves but on a much smaller scale. The main feature being a tiny probe the shape of a sharp pencil tip only a few atoms wide. As with the Electron Microscope, patterns are processed by a computer and displayed as a 3D image. The probe tip on this beauty can also pick up individual atoms and move them from place to place. In 1990 IBM Scientists…