24
May
Super atoms
In the April Discover there was an article on super atoms. Basically they are clusters of atoms that in these clusters act like another element. For instance, 13 aluminum atoms form a stable compound that won’t oxidize. It’s tied to how many shells are left open when they are all together.
I think it’s really cool and odd at the same time that you can mimick elements with clusters of other elements and makes be think that we’ve been missing something in our explanations for how things work.