News & Resources  Seeing Matter at Atomic and Molecular Scales
From Nanoscale Structure to Macroscale Properties  How do only
118 building blocks—all the known elements in the periodic
table—combine to create every substance on Earth? How do these
atoms make materials with a seemingly endless variety of forms
and properties—soft and hard, ductile and brittle, magnetic and
nonmagnetic, insulating and superconducting, living and
nonliving? Why do the same atoms connected in varying ways yield
remarkably different materials? Finding out is key to creating
the materials and technologies needed to thrive in an age of
natural resource, environmental, and fiscal constraints. This
quest begins with visualizing atoms (nuclei and electrons) and
their interactions.  Download High Resolution Image.jpg
file (277KB)  Studying matter at the level of atoms and
molecules requires measuring structures that are billionths of a
meter (nanometers) or less in size. This nanoscale realm is
where the fundamental properties of mater