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steve s
19th July 2008, 01:22 AM
The other night the Science Channel had an interesting program about the atom. They covered the Geiger-Marsden experiment and the emergence of quantum mechanics.

This was just the first episode. There will be at least two more. Episode one will be repeated today (Saturday) at 1 p.m. EST. Here's the schedule...
http://science.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=48.8545.125293.36132.1


The Science Channel has had some really good shows lately. The Moon Machine series last week, and now this series. It's nice to see a network not devolve into nonsense about Nostradomus and ghost hunters.

Steve S.
fuelair
19th July 2008, 02:23 PM
Thanks Steve!! Caught this too late for today - but will be DVDing the show as eps come up!!
MattusMaximus
19th July 2008, 02:37 PM
In reference to the title of the thread, I cannot resist bragging the fact that I have actually seen individual atoms. If memory serves correctly, they were in fact graphite atoms.
Philip
19th July 2008, 06:14 PM
In reference to the title of the thread, I cannot resist bragging the fact that I have actually seen individual atoms. If memory serves correctly, they were in fact graphite atoms.
Was that with an atomic force microscope?
MattusMaximus
19th July 2008, 11:46 PM
Was that with an atomic force microscope?


Yup.
soylent
20th July 2008, 06:27 AM
Yup.

Wouldn't it have been gold or lead ontop of graphite to get good contrast? Distinguishing one carbon atom from another in graphite sounds very difficult.
MattusMaximus
20th July 2008, 05:25 PM
Wouldn't it have been gold or lead ontop of graphite to get good contrast? Distinguishing one carbon atom from another in graphite sounds very difficult.


It was very difficult. It took me three weeks of solid work with an old Park AFM to do it and a lot of failures, but you should have seen the looks on the faces of my colleagues when I showed them how I'd imaged individual atoms. One of the highlights of my time as a physics geek :D
alfaniner
20th July 2008, 09:30 PM
I was disappointed in this thread because I thought it was about "The Atom", a minor DC Comics character, rather than "The atom", that little thing that makes up everything in the whole universe.
Lennart Hyland
21st July 2008, 03:23 AM
No chance I can watch this streaming somewhere?