Question

What did the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope allow scientists to do for the first time?

A) observe individual atoms
B) create new kinds of atoms
C) identify particles inside atoms
D) increase the size of atoms

Answer 1

That new scanning tunneling microscope was so powerful because it allowed scientists to observe individual atoms for the first time. That's why we have atom models because they have been seen.

Have a nice day! :)

Answer 2

A) Observe individual atoms

Step-by-step explanation:

Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) allows scientists to obtain the surface resolution of a solid at an atomic scale and view real images of atoms.

This equipment uses quantum tunneling between a sample and a probe tip so that the surface image is perfectly analyzed.

The resolutions achieved by an STM can be as high as 0.1 nm lateral resolution and 0.01 nm depth resolution. This is sometimes higher than the achievable resolutions using the best electron microscopes.

Thanks to the invention of STM, it became possible not only to visualize atoms and molecules, but also to measure and manipulate them. And this has triggered the development of a wide variety of scanning probe microscopes (SPM).