NIST sensor measures yoctonewton forces fast

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used a small crystal of ions (electrically charged atoms) to detect forces at the scale of yoctonewtons. Measurements of slight forces - one yoctonewton is equivalent to the weight of a single copper atom on Earth - can be useful in force microscopy, nanoscale science, and tests of fundamental physics theories...

Read the whole article on

More from