Is it possible to see an atom with a microscope???? Please add extra info ( p.s i am only 12)
2007-01-02 01:51:19 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
It is not possible to see an actual atom, but there is a special instrument called a Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope that sends a small probe across the surface of an object and measures small changes in electricity that flows through the probe. It then sends the data to a computer which uses a mathematical theory called quantum mechanics to calculate what the surface of the object should look like and puts it into a graph. Type in "Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope" on Google Images to see what one of these graphs looks like.
We haven't actually seen atoms, but we have seen mathematical calculations of what they look like.
By the way, I'm thirteen, so if I can understand this, you can too :)
2007-01-02 02:08:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most atoms are too small to be seen with a microscope.
Even the most powerful electron microscope does not have the resolution to see an atom. The largest of the atoms are still a blur.
It is possible to see the interacton of atoms with other material under the microscope. It is called Brownian Movement.
Brownian motion is generally regarded as having been discovered by the botanist Robert Brown in 1827. It is believed that Brown was studying pollen particles floating in water under the microscope. He then observed minute particles within the vacuoles of the pollen grains executing a jittery motion. By repeating the experiment with particles of dust, he was able to rule out that the motion was due to pollen particles being 'alive', although the origin of the motion was yet to be explained.
2007-01-02 10:01:30 · answer #2 · answered by Mr Cellophane 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can see atoms of some materials by using an Electron Microscope. This is a special microscope which uses charged particles instead of light to look at very small objects. I believe it can show the shadows caused by very heavy metal atoms such as Uranium. Lokk this up in a physics book and it wqill give you a picture.
2007-01-02 10:00:14 · answer #3 · answered by David M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay 12-year old, no, you cannot see an atom with a microscope, you must believe.
2007-01-02 09:52:51 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no ordinary microscope can spot an atom.
an electron microscope is a bunch of other sensors that gather data and a computer system uses this data to simulate a false color image. this can detect individual atoms, but its not a microscope in the traditional sense.
2007-01-02 10:23:42 · answer #5 · answered by implosion13 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes!
You need a very powerful microscope - it uses electrons instead of light because photons are too big to give the necessary resolution.
Its called a SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE.
If you run a search on that you should see some pictures of various small molecules and atoms.
2007-01-02 09:55:17 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you would need a scanning tunneling microscope. you can't see them with a normal light microscope.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/atom9.htm
2007-01-02 09:54:02 · answer #7 · answered by matt 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋