This isn't the view through your childhood kaleidoscope. Nor is
it an alien craft come to beam you up. In fact, it's the world's
first atomic force microscopy image of chemical bonds inside an
individual molecule. Created by IBM scientists in Zurich,
Switzerland, using noncontact atomic force microscopy, the image
shows the varying electron concentration around a molecule of
nanographene. In other words, it shows the covalent bonds inside
the molecule, depicting how long and strong they are. IBM
scientists explain: The individual bonds between carbon atoms in
such molecules differ subtly in their length and strength. All
the important chemical, electronic, and optical properties of
such molecules are related to the differences of bonds in the
polyaromatic systems. Now, for the first time, these differences
were detected for both individual molecules and bonds. This can
increase basic understanding at the level of individual
molecules, important for research on novel electronic devices,
organic solar cells, an