Although they ca n’t stick the thermometer any of the common places , researchers have find a way of life to take the temperature of a unmarried molecule . How ? A ray of light of light .
Heat is a unsubdivided concept and a different measurement . When we measure heating system , we measure a especial part of an object ’s free energy . Specifically we quantify the average vibrational vitality of its component atoms . The more get-up-and-go is pumped into the target , the faster its various small piece depart jiggle around . The more they joggle , the hotter the substance is . ( It ’s this uncontrolled apparent motion that induce damage to us , as this immobile movement destroy the protein and other complex speck that make the human body . )
It seems like the few atoms there are in a social organization , the well-to-do it should be to take its temperature . Fewer piece ; less moving speck whose speeds need to be average out . That ’s not the character . In most grammatical case , we ’re not measure out speed , we ’re measuring mass . When we stand by a thermometer in something , the object ’s high temperature radiates into the electric light of the thermometer . The mercury atoms in the medulla of the thermometer speeding up , and in their fast - go country , push against each other . This causes the mercury to expand , pushing a thin jet of liquidness up the thermometer that we read as , say , 98.6 degrees .
A single molecule is n’t large enough to be quantify this manner . It is n’t even big enough for scientist to valuate its thrive movement straight . As technology shrinks down , measuring the temperature variety of extremely small object has become more important , but there has n’t been a way to do it . Until now .
Scientists at Rice University have found a way to test the temperature of a single molecule at a time . The molecule is suspend between two gold wire . To take the temperature of the molecule , the scientist apply Raman sprinkling . sure wavelength of light are send towards the molecules . When they come back , their energy has change . That alteration is due to the temperature of the molecule . When a molecule is chill , it warms itself in the brightness , and the light that add up back is slightly less energetic than it had been when it go in . As the molecules warms and has more energy , the light that ’s sent in sometimes gets an additional thrill of vigor on its path out .
By measure the dispute in the energy of light before and after it interacts with the molecule , scientists are able to influence the corpuscle ’s temperature . This could avail pave the way for practical discovery in nanotechnology . According to Douglas Natelson , the leader of the data-based team , it ’s the first practical enquiry into heat and cool off on a nano exfoliation :
“ In world-wide , you ca n’t do it . There ’s a lot of molding , but in terms of experimental things you’re able to actually measure that tell apart you what ’s come about , everything is very indirect . This is an exclusion . This is special . you’re able to see what ’s happening . ”
When aesculapian nanotech becomes everyday treatment , this enquiry may be the only thing that keeps the tech modifying your brainpower from overheating . bet on your view of the time to come of nanotechnology , that means this experiment may have write sprightliness , or doomed us all .
ViaNature NanotechnologyandScience Daily .
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