The technique to create the textbook atom was inspired by Lagrange points (pictured) – regions of space where gravity from different sources cancels out (Image: NASA/WMAP Science Team)
THINK of an atom, and chances are you’ll picture something that looks like a tiny solar system. You’d be wrong, but never fear: researchers have engineered an atom that looks just like you think it should.
When the atomic nucleus was discovered a century ago, the solar system analogy was obvious. The nucleus’s mass and charge would force electrons to circle it, just as the sun’s gravity holds orbiting planets. But quantum mechanics…
