Photographing Innerspaces 18
Makarand writes "In the past few days photographic techniques for
recording phenomena at the molecular and atomic levels have been reported. Prepare to be amazed!
(1)
Scientists
at UCLA were able to eavesdrop on cellular conversations between proteins.
(2)
Scientists at the University of Buffalo
recorded on videotape
and in real time
a molecule of a particular DNA motor protein in the process of "unzipping"
a double strand of bacterial DNA. A Quicktime movie is also available
here.
(3) Lastly, using ultrafast flash photography, scientists at the Vienna University of
Technology (Austria), could for the first time ask Electrons to say "Cheese!".
They could
track the motion of electrons deep within atoms."
Answer to heisenberg question (Score:5, Informative)
The researchers still cannot directly detect an electron's jumping into an empty space. But when that electron drops, it gives extra energy to a neighbor, kicking it out of the atom, too. The laser pulse illuminates this second ejected electron.
The experiment does not violate Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which prohibits the exact measurement of both the position and velocity of a particle. The laser pulse does not reveal the position of the electron, just its velocity.