electrons

A graphic depicting an atomic nucleus acting as a clock.

Scientists Reveal the World’s First Nuclear Clock

The timekeeping device is made with atomic nuclei of thorium, although it is not yet more precise than standard atomic clocks.

Physics & Chemistry Isaac Schultz Sep 4

1 Main Grb Jet Illustration 16.width 1320An illustration of a gamma-ray burst emitted by a collapsing star.

Astronomers Detect Possible Matter-Antimatter Annihilation in Giant Space Explosion

Subatomic particles colliding at nearly the speed of light may have produced a unique emission line in the brightest explosion ever observed.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Jul 26

Voyager Probes Spot Previously Unknown Phenomenon in Deep Space

NASA’s Voyager spacecraft may be billions of miles away and over 40 years old, but they’re still making significant discoveries, as new research reveals. A paper published today in the Astronomical Journal describes an entirely new form of electron burst, a discovery made possible by the intrepid Voyager probes. These bursts are happening in the…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Dec 3

An “Impenetrable Barrier” Protects The Earth From Killer Electrons

It appears that our planet’s built-in force field is much stronger than we thought. Scientists studying the Van Allen belts have discovered the presence of a nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents some of the fastest and most powerful “ultrarelativistic” electrons from reaching the surface. Discovered back in 1958, the Van Allen belts are two doughnut-shaped…

io9 George Dvorsky Nov 27

Be Thankful For the Invisible Belt That Saves Earth From Radiation

Well, here’s something cosmic to be thankful for this weekend. A NASA-led study of the Van Allen radiation belts has uncovered new information about the invisible “shield” that keeps harmful ultrarelativistic electrons from the Earth. In a study published in Nature, scientists from MIT and the University of Colorado at Boulder detail their analysis of…

Space & Spaceflight Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Nov 26

Why Don’t Electrons Just Fall Into the Nucleus of an Atom?

Static electricity works because electrons are strongly attracted to protons, right? But, in atoms, electrons are right there, next to the protons in the nucleus. Why don’t the electrons zip directly into the nucleus and stick to the protons? Electrons Should Fall Into the Nucleus Everyone who has ever sat through fourth grade knows that…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 30

Scientists May Have Figured Out How to Turn Light into Matter

Back in 1934, a team of physicists came up with an idea for how one might create matter from light. Put simply, just slam two photons into each other to get an electron and a positron, a.k.a. matter. And now, some 80 years later, a team of physicists have a plan to carry out the…

Physics & Chemistry Adam Clark Estes May 19

This Crazy Contraption Weighed a Single Electron 13x More Accurately

Last week, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics published the most exact value ever observed for the weight of a single electron—a value 13 times more accurate than the previous estimate. And the Penning trap, the kooky looking device shown above, was crucial in obtaining this measurement. To get this super-accurate weight…

Physics & Chemistry Bob Sorokanich Feb 26

Why Is Glass Transparent?

We all take for granted the fact that glass is transparent. But stop and think about it for a second: how can something so bulky and solid be so easy to see through? In fact, it might be better to ask not why glass is transparent, but why other materials not transparent—which is exactly what…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Feb 5

Yes, electrons are perfectly round — and that’s a problem

Bad news, everyone! New measurements show that electrons are perfectly round. This is a problem because it means something’s still seriously wrong with a critical theory that’s supposed to tell us why the universe exists. Last year, Harvard and Yale physicists conducted an experiment to measure the “lumpiness” of electrons. The researchers were hoping to…

io9 George Dvorsky Dec 20

Everything You Need to Know About Electrons

Electrons are tiny little particles that whizz around atoms, right? Well, kinda, but they’re actually far better understood as waves. Wait, what? If that makes you stop and scratch your head don’t worry! Just watch this video, and you’ll know everything you need to about the exciting world of electrons. Starting off with the best…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Mar 13

See a recreation of the experiment that discovered the electron

Check out this awesome experiment that shows how J J Thomson began proving the existence of the electron. Thomson did this in 1897, despite the notable difficulty of electrons being much, much too small to see. (Sadly, that’s still true today. And we say we’ve made progress.) We’ll tell you how this simple demonstration indicates…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 28

Electrons Can Split Into Two

Until now, electrons have been regarded as elementary particles—which means that scientists thought they had no component parts or substructure. But now, electrons have been observed decaying into two separate parts—causing physicists to rethink what they know about the particles. The electrons split into two separate parts, each carrying a particular property of the electron.…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Apr 19

Scientists Manipulate Electrons Into Material Never Seen on Earth

Stanford scientists have created designer electrons that behave as if they were exposed to a magnetic field of 60 Tesla—a force 30 percent stronger than anything ever sustained on Earth. The work could lead to a revolution in the materials that make everything from video displays to airplanes to mobile phones. “The behavior of electrons…

Physics & Chemistry Kristen Philipkoski Mar 14

Why are electrons doomed to remain forever separated from their beloved protons?

We all know the story. Electrons and protons are attracted to each other. That’s why a balloon rubbed on hair clings to clothes. The electrons it gained are crying out for protons and dragging the rest of the balloon along with them. But electrons and protons are right next to each other in the atom.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Feb 24

Brian Cox explains the interconnectedness of the universe, explodes your brain

The Pauli exclusion principle is the quantum mechanical concept that no two identical particles in all the Universe may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. What does that mean, exactly? Well, for starters, it means that the butterfly effect has nothing on the consequences of the Pauli exclusion principle. In this clip from BBC’s A…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 21

Brian Cox and Simon Pegg explain why atoms have so much empty space

If you’re a fan of lucid explanations of tricky scientific concepts, it’s hard to go wrong with theoretical physicist Brian Cox. But when you mix in physicist Jim Al-Khalili and Simon Pegg, you’ve got yourself a recipe for pedagogic gold. Also: thinly veiled sex jokes. In this clip from BBC’s A Night With the Stars,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 28

See electron tweezers at work

We already have optical tweezers, which allow tiny quantities of matter to be held and manipulated by beams of light. With electron tweezers we might be able to grab hold of single atoms. A team observing how small quantities of metal behaved as they were transitioning from solid to liquid noticed something funny happened when…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 10

Fascinating First-Ever Images of an Electron In Orbit

It was only two years ago that IBM showed us an image of a complete molecule, atomic bonds and all, but today’s news does that one infinitesimally-sized breakthrough better. Ladies and gents, behold the first image of an electron’s path. https://gizmodo.com/ibm-takes-first-3d-image-of-atomic-bonds-5346964 Utterly amazing stuff! The IBM breakthrough was amazing enough, but now we have images…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 28

How your immune system fires off electrons to repair DNA damage

Scientists have found out how a famous sunburn-healing enzyme works. The way it zaps DNA damage sounds so science fictional that it seems like something that happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Sunburn does a lot of damage to skin. Sometimes the skin is just roughened or splotched. Sometimes the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 29

electrons

Scientists Reveal the World’s First Nuclear Clock

Astronomers Detect Possible Matter-Antimatter Annihilation in Giant Space Explosion

Voyager Probes Spot Previously Unknown Phenomenon in Deep Space

An “Impenetrable Barrier” Protects The Earth From Killer Electrons

Be Thankful For the Invisible Belt That Saves Earth From Radiation

Why Don’t Electrons Just Fall Into the Nucleus of an Atom?

Scientists May Have Figured Out How to Turn Light into Matter

This Crazy Contraption Weighed a Single Electron 13x More Accurately

Why Is Glass Transparent?

Yes, electrons are perfectly round — and that’s a problem

Everything You Need to Know About Electrons

See a recreation of the experiment that discovered the electron

Electrons Can Split Into Two

Scientists Manipulate Electrons Into Material Never Seen on Earth

Why are electrons doomed to remain forever separated from their beloved protons?

Brian Cox explains the interconnectedness of the universe, explodes your brain

Brian Cox and Simon Pegg explain why atoms have so much empty space

See electron tweezers at work

Fascinating First-Ever Images of an Electron In Orbit

How your immune system fires off electrons to repair DNA damage

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