Electron filmed for first time ever

[SF]

http://www.physorg.com/news122897584.html
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/electron_caught_on_film_for_the_first_time

Now it is possible to see a movie of an electron. The movie shows how an electron rides on a light wave after just having been pulled away from an atom. This is the first time an electron has ever been filmed, and the results are presented in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Under the first link a guy is quoted talking about the amount of time it takes for an electron to orbit the nucleus of an atom.

Isn't that the circa 1900 Rutherford model of the atom, to speak of electrons orbiting the nucleus like planets around the sun? And of course, the isosurfaces of electron shells are not circular at all. So is that complete bunk, or if not what is his description analogous to?

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[Tachyonie]

I am a bit confused aswell... I know nothing about quantum physics but how can you measure and state speed or time at witch the electron "orbits" (another strange statement) the nucleus?

Tachyon.

 

[malawi_glenn]

I think the guy that wrote on the blog has missunderstood alot..

 

[CaptainQuasar]

I think the guy that wrote on the blog has missunderstood alot..

But the guy quoted in the first link talking about electrons circling the nucleus is supposed to be a professor of atomic physics. Do you think he's just dumbing something down too much?

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[Gyula Korom D]

The authors wrote that: "The movie shows how an electron rides on a light wave after just having been pulled away from an atom." So I do not think that these are electrons around the nucleus. Am I write? If yes, I do not understand, where is the electron? Is it in the middle of the circles? And the light waves are the circles? Such clumsy descriptions make only confusions. Who knowes more precisely this experiment, please give us precise detailes.

A bit later the authors wrote, that : "A stroboscope enables us to ‘freeze’ a periodic movement, like capturing a hummingbird flapping its wings." This suggests that several electrons can be seen on the video revolving around the nucleus. In that case where is the that single electron, that "just having been pulled away from the atom."

What the bloggers publish there, more than confusing. This is a horror. They should clarify, what and where we can see on the video?

 

[Gyula Korom D]

http://www.physorg.com/news122897584.html
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/electron_caught_on_film_for_the_first_time

Now it is possible to see a movie of an electron. The movie shows how an electron rides on a light wave after just having been pulled away from an atom. This is the first time an electron has ever been filmed, and the results are presented in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters.

Dear SF,

The authors wrote that: "The movie shows how an electron rides on a light wave after just having been pulled away from an atom." So I do not think that these are electrons around the nucleus. Am I write? If yes, I do not understand, where is the electron? Is it in the middle of the circles? And the light waves are the circles? Such clumsy descriptions make only confusions. Who knowes more precisely this experiment, please give us precise detailes.

A bit later the authors wrote, that : "A stroboscope enables us to ‘freeze’ a periodic movement, like capturing a hummingbird flapping its wings." This suggests that several electrons can be seen on the video revolving around the nucleus. In that case where is the that single electron, that "just having been pulled away from the atom."

What the bloggers publish there, more than confusing. This is a horror. They should clarify, what and where we can see on the video?

Do you have more information on this study?

 

[Kilt]

The research paper can be read here by clicking on the Article in Physical Review Letters link.

The paper describes the images as "electron momentum distributions" that demonstrate "coherent electron scattering".

I'll leave it up to someone more knowledgeable to explain what this means, but it certainly sounds rather simplistic to describe the images as a picture of an electron.