How to catch an atom

Atoms. The building blocks of life. Everything and anything is made of up atoms, whether they be individual atoms, atoms, or strings of atoms bonded together, molecules, these microscopic marvels are constantly being studied by scientists to further our knowledge of what they are capable of.

One such field of research is that of cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are rays that come from space, from various sources of radiation, the closest to us being the sun. Scientists are currently capable of freezing the atoms found in the rays by exposing them to at temperatures near absolute zero, but unfortunately, under the freezing conditions scientists cannot fire beams of electrons at the same time to see how the atoms will react.

It seemed that this would continue to be a problem for scientists, until one day scientist and guitarist Andrew Murray came up with an idea and switching the type of current used in the magnetic coils used by scientists to hold the particles in place. He got the idea from his guitar amplifier, which uses an alternating current (AC) in its coils, where as the scientists were using a direct current (DC) in theirs. By using an alternating current, the transition time is much smoother for the scientists and they can now successfully fire beams at the atoms.

It seems like such a simple solution, and I wonder why no one thought of this before Mr. Murray. For someone who knows only basics about electronics and related things, changing the current type isn't a terribly deep idea. I'm glad Mr. Murray thought of this, and look forward to seeing what information comes from this research.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15135-rock-guitarists-amp-becomes-a-trap-for-atoms.html?feedId=online-news_rss20