Quick-Change Molecules Caught in the Act
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - 05:00
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- The chemistry of life happens so fast that a millionth of a second is an eternity -- an eternity that is largely invisible to science. In that time, molecules change in ways we cannot see. Now, though, there is a way of looking at molecules in solution -- as they are in life -- that shows both the big-picture shape and smaller-scale details of a molecule in one glance, with each glimpse being captured in one hundred trillionths of a second. With this technique, new chemical landscapes are now open to study.