Physics in the News – Single Molecule Car

From BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15637867

This picture published on the BBC website is supposed to show a single molecule ‘car’ travelling across a sheet of copper.

This type of thing really annoys me. For a start the picture is obviously a computer graphics interpretation of the event. (The ‘light’ shining on the copper atoms is casting incorrect shadows.)

Why can’t the physicists show exactly what they saw? Have they actually seen this claimed molecule? A computer generated graphic does not qualify as any form of evidence.

If the human eye (with with the aid of a scanning microscope) can see the claimed event why can’t a camera?

This type of graphic is as scientifically valid as claiming that the drawings in ‘Peter Pan’ proves the existence of fairies.

Brian Williams – Author