What you’re looking at is the first direct observation of an atom’s electron orbital, an atom’s actual wave function!
The image was made using a newly developed "quantum microscope", which uses photoionization microscopy to visualize the structure directly.
Moreover thanks to the awesome science, you can listen to the sound of a single atom.
More precisely you can listen the individual ions (charged phosphorous atoms) being fired into a silicon chip.
Now, the interesting excercise! Try to synaesthetically combine the sound and the image of an atom in your brain. 🙂
Compare the above direct images of hydrogen atoms, with its computed probability density plots of wave functions.
Sources:
photos
physicsworld.com,
io9.com,
newscientist.com
sounds
abc.net
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