IBM makes world's smallest movie

IBM makes world's smallest movie by filming atoms

Scientists from IBM on Wednesday unveiled the world's smallest movie, made with one of the tiniest elements in the universe: atoms.

Named "A Boy and His Atom," the movie used thousands of precisely placed atoms to create nearly 250 frames of stop-motion action. It depicts a character named Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a playful journey that includes dancing, playing catch and bouncing on a trampoline.

"Capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original motion picture on the atomic-level is a precise science and entirely novel," said Andreas Heinrich, principle investigator for the research in a statement.

"This movie is a fun way to share the atomic-scale world while opening up a dialogue with students and others on the new frontiers of math and science," Heinrich said.

IBM used a remotely operated scanning tunneling microscope to make the movie earlier this year. The microscope operates at a temperature of negative 268 degrees Celsius and magnifies the atomic surface over 100 million times.

Researchers used the microscope to control a super-sharp needle along a copper surface to "feel" atoms. Only 1 nanometer away from the surface, which is a billionth of a meter in distance, the needle can physically attract atoms and molecules on the surface and thus pull them to a precisely specified location on the surface.

In the end, the scientists rendered still images of the individually arranged atoms, resulting in 242 single frames.

ＩＢＭ用原子打造世界最"小"电影

新华网华盛顿５月１日电（记者林小春）又一个新"人"加入了电影行业,并一举夺走"世界最小演员"称号.美国国际商用机器公司（ＩＢＭ）１日宣布,该公司利用宇宙中的微小粒子——原子,塑造了一个男孩形象,制作了一部世界上最小的电影,并已获得吉尼斯世界纪录认证.

这部电影是动画片,名为《男孩和他的原子》,描绘了一个男孩与原子一起跳舞和玩耍的情景,男孩的线条轮廓由一个个原子排列组成.由于这是一部原子尺度上的电影,ＩＢＭ所展现的电影画面比实际尺度放大了一亿多倍.

业内人士评价说,尽管这部电影时长不过９０秒,没有丰富的情节,也不会逗人开心大笑,画面颜色也单调,容易让人想起几十年前的动画片,但其意义非凡.ＩＢＭ的研究人员说,希望依靠这种"有趣的方法来展示原子尺度的世界",并探索数据存储的极限.

为制作这部电影,研究人员利用一个两吨重的扫描隧道显微镜,在零下２６８摄氏度的环境下,控制微细针头在铜的表面精确移动原子的位置,通过这种方式来组成每个定格影像,最终合成了一部２４２帧的电影.

ＩＢＭ在其官网上说,去年该公司研究人员曾用１２个原子制成世界最小的磁存储器."然而,纳米物理学家也需要找点乐趣.出于这种娱乐精神,他们通过扫描隧道显微镜移动原子制作出了一部电影,吉尼斯世界纪录已认证它为世界最小电影."