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I don't get how this stuff works. My understanding is that it was impossible to "see" electrons because they're so small that photons can't bounce off of them.
by m0th87 17y ago
I don't get how this stuff works. My understanding is that it was impossible to "see" electrons because they're so small that photons can't bounce off of them. How does this work? Also, how do they color it? Is it artificially added? I can't see why it would be naturally blue.
- jonmc12 17y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_emission_microscopy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_emission_microscopy
- lucifer 17y agoWhere is the electron in that picture? It is "the electron density around one nucleus".
- grinich 17y agoFinding the electron is tricky business. That question goes deep into quantum mechanics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle
- JabavuAdams 17y agoThis doesn't answer your question, but photons definitely can interact with (bounce off) electrons. All optical properties we see macroscopically (light interacting with objects) can be broken down to photons interacting with electrons. The Quantum Electro-Dynamics theory (QED) explains this. There are actually some really great and entertaining free video lectures about this, given by Richard Feynman: http://vega.org.uk/video/programme/45 http://vega.org.uk/video/programme/45 Now, I think what you were referring to is that we can't see electrons in an optical microscope because the electrons are smaller than the diffraction limit imposed by visible lights wavelengths. So, in my admittedly limited understanding, you can't see an electron with a light microscope, but almost everything we consider optics is determined by electron-photon interactions.