(Photo: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)
Dijon: South Korean scientists have created the world’s smallest ball game based on atoms (the smallest component of matter).
Using a technique called optical traps, the researchers made the atoms move like balls in the air. Optical traps (also known as optical tweezers) are a technique that uses light to shake objects.
According to scientists, the atoms in this game move easily from one net to another due to the atom throwing and catching devices.
Jae-wook Ahn, a professor in the Department of Physics at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said it was the first time an atom had traveled from one end to the other.
Professor Ahn said that the atomic ball travels between the two optical traps just like the ball travels between the pitcher and the catcher in a baseball game.
Professor Ahn and his colleagues used rubidium (an alkaline metal) atoms cooled to about minus 273 degrees Celsius for the game.
These traps were turned on and off to drop the atom and turned on again to catch. From one end to the other, the atoms traveled a distance of 4.2 micrometers at a speed of 65 cm/s.
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