What Is It? #8

It’s that time of the week again – time for our What Is It? competition, courtesy of Prof. Dowling. Or at least, this week, it’s more of a Who Is It? The rest of the rules are the same, so tell us who/what you think this photo is.

Last week we showed you this photo, and asked you what it is. The answer? Pure gold atoms (as if there were any other type!).  The spacing between the gold atoms is 2 Angstroms (or 0.2 nm). They are not gold coloured due to the image having been taken with an electron microscope. Find out more on NanoNews-Now.

Not many of you attempted an answer this week. It was a difficult one, sure enough, and no-one quite got there in the end. The closest to the correct answer were probably Tom and Jon D, with graphite and crystal joints in metal respectively. Sorry, Stu, it wasn’t a stipple pad for artexing the ceiling, nor was it cake decorations on a biscuit tin lid, which was Jon D’s alternative offering! Better luck next time.