When we think of small films, we often think of budget productions, not molecular level works of art. But IBM has created just that with a new tiniest ever stop-motion film made completely out of individual atoms.
Titled A Boy and His Atom, the film features individual carbon monoxide molecules being rearranged to depict a boy dancing, bouncing on a trampoline and throwing a ball. Scientists at IBM Research's Almaden Research Center in Northern California produced the film using a scanning tunneling microscope.
"Capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original motion picture on the atomic-level is a precise science and entirely novel," IBM Research Scientist Andreas Heinrich said. "At IBM, researchers don't just read about science, we do it. 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."
The IBM researchers hope that the project will encourage youth to pursue careers in science and technology. They also hope it will lead to storage and tech-related breakthroughs.
"The ability to move single atoms, one of the smallest particles of any element in the universe, is crucial to IBM's research in the field of atomic-scale memory," an IBM blog post states. "In 2012, IBM scientists announced the creation of the world's smallest magnetic memory bit, made of just 12 atoms. This breakthrough could transform computing by providing the world with devices that have access to unprecedented levels of data storage. But even nanophysicists need to have a little fun. In that spirit, the scientists moved atoms by using their scanning tunneling microscope to make... a movie, which has been verified by Guinness World Records as The World's Smallest Stop-Motion Film."
This is not that first time that IBM has toyed with individual atoms. In 1981, two of the company's researchers based in Zurich invented the scanning tunneling microscope. As a result, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986.
IBM's true ingenuity in creating the film was their realization that if a subminiature magnet could be used to turn bits off and on, the same could be used to make animation frames. Accordingly, a group of four people began work on the cartoon, which wound up taking about 18 hours per day over the course of ten days. In producing the film, the researchers culled assistance from the animation company 1st Ave. Machine. Once the atoms were pushed in a general direction, they would arrive wherever they wanted to land.
"As data creation and consumption continue to get bigger, data storage needs to get smaller, all the way down to the atomic level," Heinrich said. "We're applying the same techniques used to come up with new computing architectures and alternative ways to store data to making this movie."
As for a sequel, IBM currently has no production plans.
"We don't want to make movies for making movies' sake," Heinrich said. "Hopefully this will resonate, and people will get interested in science."
You can watch the movie below.
