# Someone took a normal light photograph of a single atom **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724 "2018-02-12T22:15:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/1 "2018-02-12T22:15:04Z")
[Picture of a Single Atom Wins Science Photo Contest](https://petapixel.com/2018/02/12/picture-single-atom-wins-science-photo-contest/): > [@](#): > > In the center of the picture, a small bright dot is visible – a single positively-charged strontium atom. It is held nearly motionless by electric fields emanating from the metal electrodes surrounding it. […] When illuminated by a laser of the right blue-violet color, the atom absorbs and re-emits light particles sufficiently quickly for an ordinary camera to capture it in a long exposure photograph. [Here’s the page on the contest](https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/single-trapped-atom-captures-science-photography-competitions-top-prize/) with other winners in a slideshow at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/2 "2018-02-12T23:18:36Z")
That’s pretty damned cool. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/3 "2018-02-13T00:15:37Z")
How is that possible? I thought light microscopes could only see down to a resolution of about 5000 angstroms? Below that you need an electron microscope. Also shouldn’t the diameter of the atom be about 1/20,000,000 the distance between the two electrodes? It looks way larger. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/4 "2018-02-13T00:33:56Z")
The laser is exciting it’s electron cloud, making its visible diameter much larger. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/5 "2018-02-13T00:40:40Z")
Very cool! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/6 "2018-02-13T00:57:59Z")
Is there a basic explanation for how we know it’s a single atom? That’s amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/7 "2018-02-13T01:19:27Z")
Just to be a bit of a Debbie Downer, that photo’s a bit of a …cheat is not quite the right word, but it’s not really showing what you think it’s showing. It’s already known that the human eye can [detect a single photon](https://www.nature.com/news/people-can-sense-single-photons-1.20282) under the right conditions. So and any time that happens, you could say you were “seeing a single atom”. What we’re really seeing there is a halo of light surrounding something that’s still too small to be actually seen. It’s a photo of an atom in the same way that [this](https://ak1.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/11947481/thumb/2.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height:160)) is a photo of the lightbulb in a lighthouse. Yes, that’s where all the light is ultimately coming from, but we’re not close enough to get sufficient detail that we could really say we’re seeing the thing itself. On the other hand - the fact that they _can isolate a single strontium atom and make it sit still_ for enough time for the photo to be taken? Pretty damn impressive ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/8 "2018-02-13T13:47:50Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Just to be a bit of a Debbie Downer, that photo’s a bit of a …cheat is not quite the right word, but it’s not really showing what you think it’s showing. It’s already known that the human eye can [detect a single photon](https://www.nature.com/news/people-can-sense-single-photons-1.20282) under the right conditions. So and any time that happens, you could say you were “seeing a single atom”. What we’re really seeing there is a halo of light surrounding something that’s still too small to be actually seen. > > It’s a photo of an atom in the same way that [this](https://ak1.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/11947481/thumb/2.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height:160)) is a photo of the lightbulb in a lighthouse. Yes, that’s where all the light is ultimately coming from, but we’re not close enough to get sufficient detail that we could really say we’re seeing the thing itself. > > On the other hand - the fact that they _can isolate a single strontium atom and make it sit still_ for enough time for the photo to be taken? Pretty damn impressive All of this! ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-took-a-normal-light-photograph-of-a-single-atom/808724/9 "2018-02-13T15:59:55Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > It’s a photo of an atom in the same way that [this](https://ak1.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/11947481/thumb/2.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height:160)) is a photo of the lightbulb in a lighthouse. A more perfect analogy could not be written. This post deserves praise and gratitude.