Electrons discover their individuality
Monday, September 1, 2008 - 13:21
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Electrons have something in common with people: the more information they acquire about their setting, the more they become aware of their individuality and the more belonging to a group loses its importance. As a result, the coherent harmony that binds the electrons into a fixed relationship with their environment is lost. This is what scientists at the Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max-Planck Society discovered when, with the aid of X-rays, they catapulted electrons out of molecules consisting of two nitrogen atoms.