No one will ever be able to see a purely mathematical construct such as a perfect sphere. But now, scientists using supercomputer simulations and atomic resolution microscopes have imaged the ...

Electron orbitals show where and how electrons move around atomic nuclei and molecules. In modern chemistry and physics, they have proven to be a useful model for quantum mechanical description and ...

A valence electron in titanium oxide has been imaged at a resolution of 0.2 Angstroms using synchrotron X-ray diffraction and a new Fourier synthesis method that can determine the orbital states in ...

The lanthanide elements’ 4f electron orbitals are notoriously shy and retiring, and they were long thought to be unwilling partners in chemical bonding. Now chemists have brought out a surprising ...