Where are the helium atoms in the molecule? As in a cloud
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - 18:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Physicists have now resolved a disputed matter of theoretical physics. Science has long since known that, contrary to the old school of thought, helium forms molecules of two, three or even more atoms. Exactly what helium consisting of three atoms looks like, however, has been disputed by theoretical physicists for about 20 years. Besides the intuitive assumption that the three identical components form an equilateral triangle, there was also the hypothesis that the three atoms are arranged linearly, in other words in a row. Scientists, using the COLTRIMS reaction microscope, were able to demonstrate that the truth lies somewhere in between.