I thought it was time for an “extreme macro zoom” photo… aka, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The distance between each white dot is the inter-atomic distance. The blur on the left is amorphous GaAs, and the region on the right was recrystallized by in-situ annealing.

This was in a pile of photos from a materials science research paper I wrote in 1986 (which won a research award back in the day).

I manually developed the film and used “hand dodging” on the print exposure to compensate for lighting imbalances.

39 responses to “Picture of Atoms”

  1. Paul Watson Avatar
    Paul Watson

    And I am a dope for believing you… right? 😀

    Reply
  2. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    ahhhhh… emmmmmm…errrrrrrrr…

    Would you … repeat? Didn´t follow you…

    From "I tought it was…"…

    Reply
  3. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Paul: Nope. This is not a hoax or photoshop job

    Reply
  4. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    [pout]

    …mmm…

    Reply
  5. *ivo* Avatar
    *ivo*

    "aka, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM)"

    I will never look at macro photography in the same way again.

    Reply
  6. The Rocketeer Avatar
    The Rocketeer

    It looks like an army of nanobots
    ready to replicate.

    Reply
  7. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Rocketeer: that’s a funny sign!

    My advice to you: augment early and often. (a rocket head may not be enough.)

    Here is the conclusion from an analysis of the prospect of Global Ecophagy by Biovorous Nanoreplicators:

    "The smallest plausible biovorous nanoreplicator has a molecular weight of ~1 gigadalton and a minimum replication time of perhaps ~100 seconds, in theory permitting global ecophagy to be completed in as few as ~10^4 seconds. However, such rapid replication creates an immediately detectable thermal signature enabling effective defensive policing instrumentalities to be promptly deployed before significant damage to the ecology can occur."

    So…. look for any indication of global warming. It’s a sign.

    Reply
  8. dcJohn Avatar
    dcJohn

    holy cow, I think you’re introducing the new genre of extreme/x-macro.

    Reply
  9. The Rocketeer Avatar
    The Rocketeer

    Steve, let me introduce you to a research professor at UNM, Mike H., who goes by the name SportsCliche here on flickr. He’s got similar interests that you and I share and would be a great contact for you.

    Reply
  10. sillydog Avatar
    sillydog

    the apparent "stripes" are caused by tunneling?

    Reply
  11. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Those are stacking faults in the crystal lattice. Imagine each atom is a ping pong ball and you are trying to arrange them on a table to be as close together as possible. There is an optimally tight packing which would have a regular structure across the whole surface (and in 3D). But if you start "crystallizing" from several places simultaneously, you will meet at various interfaces with grain boundaries or dislocations, stacking faults, and bundles. I marked an interesting bundle in the Note on the picture.

    Reply
  12. roschler Avatar
    roschler

    Holy Quarks & QueeQueg!

    Reply
  13. Tampen Avatar
    Tampen

    That’s proof of life on Mars, isn’t it ?

    Reply
  14. BillyWarhol Avatar
    BillyWarhol

    interesting*

    ;))

    does this affect the string theory*

    Reply
  15. Mr. Physics Avatar
    Mr. Physics

    Excellent image.

    In what ways does HRTEM differ from STM? That is, does it work on a different principle? I am not familiar with HRTEM. Thanks!

    Reply
  16. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    thanks…. STM has a scanning tip near the subject of study and TEM uses an e-beam column that hits the subject (wikipedia entry). The HR prefix refers to the high-resolution (atomic scale) imaging mode.

    Reply
  17. UBopp Avatar
    UBopp

    Wow, am I ever stupid.

    Reply
  18. Drift Words Avatar
    Drift Words

    It’s interesting that even in the amorphous region, there is still structure at the smaller scales. I understood every word of your description, but I don’t know why this substance *wants* to be a cystal and a bucket of Lego couldn’t care less. So this image has the ability to induce apparent stupidity at all scales.

    (The reason will be do to with the shape of potential energy vs configuration. Assembled Lego is a high-energy state.)

    Reply
  19. UBopp Avatar
    UBopp

    Wow, you must be really smart…

    –The Anencephalic Community

    Reply
  20. moon_dreamr Avatar
    moon_dreamr

    ubopp lol Good to see I am not the only one that missed most of what the other posts said lol

    Reply
  21. boring fact Avatar
    boring fact

    This has been a life long interest of yours, (as well as macro photography) thank you for sharing some of this wisdom (unfortunately the link did not work for me)

    Reply
  22. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    thanks…. I just fixed the link… It’s a fun ditty…. UBopp will love it. 😉

    In short, the paper calculates that the maximum speed that self-replicating nanobots could eat the Earth is 2.78 hours. But they take comfort in the notion that this generates a lot of heat, which could alert “defensive measures.”

    Drift Words: I don’t think you can ascribe intentionality to atoms… A similar confusion results if you say genes want to replicate.

    Reply
  23. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    In other terms, DriftWords, Steve said: "Don´t get me started on the Intentionality thing…"

    LOL! 😀

    I do understand your point and share the perplexity. 😯

    Still nobody can´t give us a satisfactory answer about that. Intentional or unintentional? That´s the question. Particle or wave?… that´s another cool one too.

    As Freeman Dyson said: "The laws of nature are constructed in such a way as to make the universe as interesting as possible." [more]

    Btw, that article is interesting for all of you here, but specially to you Steve, for the subjects discussed, how they unfold, and most of all for they were discussed 8 years ago. Great to read it in retrospective under the lens of what finally happened and how. I guess you won´t agree with freeman too much at certain specific points ;)… but I sense you both share similarities in your avantgarde and open view of today and tomorrow. The mind of those who dreaming up the future, are creating it.

    Reply
  24. victorious ticket Avatar
    victorious ticket

    I prefer this:

    Reply
  25. Wontolla65 Avatar
    Wontolla65

    It remembered me of photo’s of muscle tissue. (striped muscles)

    Reply
  26. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Wontolla: Yeah… We even called it NanoCorinthian Leather in the nanocar spoof (see the bottom half of that page)….

    poo-man: thanks. Both were tough shots with spots! (but being under water with the Rays was a lot warmer than the liquid nitrogen bath used to get the shot above)

    Alieness: thanks for the link. Dyson has some very thought-provoking ideas…. When he says " I define an interesting universe as one that is friendly to life, and especially one that produces lots of variety" it reminds me of the anthropic principle (and the Selfish Biocosm hypothesis that I blogged about)

    Reply
  27. enenzi Avatar
    enenzi

    that is something that really speaks to the (almost) scientist like me : ) well done : )

    Reply
  28. UBopp Avatar
    UBopp

    No, wait, you guys are really just pulling my leg, right? If not, is there a mag wheel option for the nanocar?

    –The Self-centered Anencephalic Community

    Reply
  29. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Yes, they are very popular, but we couldn’t do mag wheels in the tradiitonal sense. The problem with macro mag wheel deign is the chrome. At the nano scale, hexavalent chromium gets Erin Brockovich all worked up.

    So, we went with "mag" as in mag lev… You’ll notice the car floats a bit in the photos.

    Reply
  30. borealnz Avatar
    borealnz

    Amazing! I doubt if we will see a more macro macro in this theme!! It looks like a piece of worn fabric to me though 🙂
    Thanks for sharing in our Non-nature macros theme at
    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  31. PatL Avatar
    PatL

    Aren’t all our shots actually pictures of atoms? Hmmm… 😉

    Non-nature macros theme at
    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  32. mbanks Avatar
    mbanks

    Took the words right out of my mouth……besides I couldn’t add anything to this HRTEM speak of which I know nothing of. 🙂
    Other than like your picture of atoms.

    Non-nature macros theme at
    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  33. RobertFrancis Avatar
    RobertFrancis

    My first take (before reading) was that this was a close up of some fabric. Glad I took a second look.

    —
    Seen in a discussion "Non-Nature Macro" in The World Through My Eyes (?)

    Reply
  34. Sebastian- Avatar
    Sebastian-

    Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Science in pictures, and we’d love to have your photo added to the group.

    —
    Found in a search. (?)

    Reply
  35. -ytf- Avatar
    -ytf-

    What is the element?

    Reply
  36. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)

    Reply
  37. Lake Fred Avatar
    Lake Fred

    Your photo is anything but ordinary! Please add this nice photo to: Un0rdinary

    Reply
  38. -ytf- Avatar
    -ytf-

    Someone gave me some bucky balls the other day. The way they arrange depending on their polarities makes me think of this photo.

    Reply
  39. fotohama Avatar
    fotohama

    Great………
    St Peter Ording 31

    Reply

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