Activating molecules

1996/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

Researchers from the laboratory of IBM in Zurich and the Tolosa Materials Centre in France have managed to displace molecules at room temperature and take them to a preset location. Since 1991, researchers have been able to move atoms one by one, but the technique used for this, requiring high temperatures of manipulation of electrical impulses, runs the risk of breaking the molecular structure.

The researchers found the solution at the beginning of molecular mechanics: using the repulsion forces generated between the right molecule and the tip of the microscope, the molecule was transferred. Of course, the microscope used for this is not of any kind: the microscope that takes advantage of the tunnel effect works with great precision, which has allowed to dance molecules of 173 atoms.