The Sound of Atoms Bonding - Sixty Symbols

Featuring Professor Philip Moriarty
See links and notes below for more details:
Selected key papers in the field:



Some notes from discussion with Prof Moriarty
1. At 5:45, that Silicon cantilevers can be used to see atoms as long as the oscillation amplitude is high. See Sugimoto et al. Nature 446 64 (2007)

EXTRA FOOTAGE FROM THIS VIDEO:

This project features scientists from The University of Nottingham

Sixty Symbols videos by Brady Haran

[AzraelSilent]

Fascinating. Moriarty's enthusiasm is inspiring.

[NikolajLepka]

Prof. Moriarty is always epic. Always.

[Cosmalano]

Professor Moriarty is one of my favorite scientists of all time and one of my role models! Feature him in more videos!!!!

[ryanhudson]

The amount of enthusiasm that Dr. Moriarty has for these topics is insane and great to see

[rhYT]

Here's one for you Prof: I recently had to repair a tube microphone.  The capsule was joined to a chassis plate with a piece of rubber which had rotted a bit so the capsule leaned over and touched the cage.  I removed the rubber and scrapped the capsule base and chassis plate bonding surfaces clean, even wiping them totally clean with lacquer thinner. I then bonded in place a fresh chuck of rubber with crazy glue.  After about 2 minutes I power up the mic and heard an enormous rough sounding noise, like that from a large waterfall, and not at all smooth like the hiss of a vacuum tube, and way louder than the pickup of ambient room sound.  Baffled for  a second, I then guessed that the crazy glue was still curing, causing atoms in the rubber to bond with the metal bonding base of the capsule and chassis plate.  I was a bit confused, as I thought such a sound could only be heard if the circuit (from capsule to chassis plate) was completed, which I assume it was not because of the rubber chunk in between them.  I checked the mic again after 10 minutes and  all was back to normal, smooth hiss of the vacuum tube, normal pickup of ambient room sound and of course my voice speaking directly at the mic.  Would you say that in this example, electrons moved in and out of the rubber to bond with the metal (and vice versa) did complete the circuit through the rubber?  I did not perform the obvious test, as the mic was fixed and that was that.  The obvious test would have been to slice the rubber chunk in half while observing (listening to) the noise to see if the noise stopped.

[Zreen]

I'd like to see more experiments involving Moriarty's coffee remnant.

[Decepticon]

In the previous "favorite scientists" video many of you mentioned Feynman and Sagan noting their talents for explaining very difficult concepts but I would suffice to say that in this current day and age you professors are truly becoming the masters of not only explaining these complicated subjects but making science formidably more interesting and applicable and hell even fun! I've always had a passion for science and learning in general but watching these videos just takes it to a whole new level. I can't thank you enough for your time. -yours truly, Rupe (JA2090)

[BeingInTheMessiah]

My most absolute favorite video. Moriarty is the epitome of every viewers wish for humanity

[RimstarOrg]

My watch stopped. The quartz crystal must have gotten too close to one of the silicon chips. :)

[simonRTJ]

those images of the silicon atoms are bind blowing, the fundamental architecture of everything just simply displayed on a lcd screen, amazing. Heisenberg, Rutherford, Thompson, Marsden, would be in awe to see that. great science Mr Moriarty, inspiring

[TheDisturbedProject]

And thus the new music genre was created - bondage :D

[_skuz]

I love Moriarty, his passion for his work is always so evident in his approach to making these videos, It's an awesome and genuine experience every time there's a video with him.

[detonationlurks]

I love this guy. His accent, his passion, his beard, everything. He makes science interesting in a way school can NEVER do.

[DrPonner]

I don't think I'd want to specialize in physics, chemistry or biology... they're all so fantastic, I'd rather be a jack of all trades.

[cohan]

How does it feel being Sherlock Holmes greatest nemesis,  Professor Moriarty?

[Simbosan]

"The name's Bond, UnBond"

[luisdb]

BTW I would really love to have a teacher like professor Moriarty, he really loves what he does and you can see it in the vid, that's great!

[taesheren]

I love Philips enthusiasm when explaining what is happening!

[AKENOXTRM]

Can we have more footage of the Professor playing his guitar ? :) 

[ianbmusic]

This is actually really musical, I love it. I was thinking of all kinds of accompaniments to the backing track of atoms bonding.  Sweet, thanks for posting!