A video has appeared online in which scientists from the University of Nottingham managed to record the process for the first time.
According to the researchers, due to the fact thatthe constant formation of atomic bonds and their breaking occurs on a tiny scale, it was quite difficult for them to study and record such processes. But fortunately, they managed to use transmission electron microscopy, thanks to which they obtained images of a pair of rhenium atoms at the moment of bond formation and further disconnection from each other.
”As far as we know, we were the firstby scientists who have filmed atomic-scale evolution, breaking, and bonding. Now we are pushing the boundaries of the visualization of molecules, going beyond simple structural analysis and moving on to understanding the dynamics of individual molecules in real time, ”the authors of the study said.