A single atom of gold is far too small for any photon in the visible spectrum to interact with.
A single atom of gold is 0.2 nanometres (a nanometre is an incredibly small thing and a gold atom isn’t even half of 1% of that), meanwhile the wavelength of blue light (The smallest wavelength of visible light) is a hulking 380 nanometres. No matter how much you zoom in you would never see anything a single atom is just too small to interact with light.
You might mean a sheet of gold that is one atom thick, which would be visible and this would be true for most materials, but some are hard or impossible to produce.
I’m trying to remember exactly but I think it was that if you can isolate a gold atom, you can bounce a laser on it and see the reflection with your eyes. Something about the reflection of gold and that being one of its interesting properties. Could be just my imagination though
Not even close, a gold atom is about 140 pm, while the diffraction limit for optical microscopes is around 200 nm, so 1000 Times bigger. And this does not mean that you could see a 200 nm object, only that you can differentiate 2 objects that are at least 200 nm apart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction-limited_system
So no it is not possible to see atoms with visible light photons.
people with good vision can probably see a single gold atom, I seem to remember that one useless fact about the smallest things we can see
A single atom of gold is far too small for any photon in the visible spectrum to interact with.
A single atom of gold is 0.2 nanometres (a nanometre is an incredibly small thing and a gold atom isn’t even half of 1% of that), meanwhile the wavelength of blue light (The smallest wavelength of visible light) is a hulking 380 nanometres. No matter how much you zoom in you would never see anything a single atom is just too small to interact with light.
That’s incorrect — single atoms can, and do, interact with optical photons.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.19671 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13716
And the entire field of super resolution microscopy relies on small things (e.g., molecules) interacting with light.
Sorry you’re getting down voted — lots of replies from folks unclear on what the diffraction limit means, atomic resonances, etc.: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161094-a-single-atom-is-visible-to-the-naked-eye-in-this-stunning-photo/
this is what I was remembering!
thank you
You might mean a sheet of gold that is one atom thick, which would be visible and this would be true for most materials, but some are hard or impossible to produce.
I’m trying to remember exactly but I think it was that if you can isolate a gold atom, you can bounce a laser on it and see the reflection with your eyes. Something about the reflection of gold and that being one of its interesting properties. Could be just my imagination though
Not even close, a gold atom is about 140 pm, while the diffraction limit for optical microscopes is around 200 nm, so 1000 Times bigger. And this does not mean that you could see a 200 nm object, only that you can differentiate 2 objects that are at least 200 nm apart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction-limited_system So no it is not possible to see atoms with visible light photons.
Parent didn’t say resolve, they said see — you can’t resolve stars but you can most certainly see them.
Light up a single atom enough and you can see it (unclear if this works with a dark adjusted naked eye or if a long exposure is required): https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161094-a-single-atom-is-visible-to-the-naked-eye-in-this-stunning-photo/
Nope. Atoms are WAY too small to see, even with the most powerful optical microscopes.
You may be thinking of a human egg cell, which can be seen with the naked eye.
No, they’re too small to resolve. You can see small things if they’re bright enough: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161094-a-single-atom-is-visible-to-the-naked-eye-in-this-stunning-photo/
A chicken egg cell can also be seen with the naked eye
What about a turkey egg?
Ostrich egg
Vegreville egg
Fabergé egg
The width of human hair is the tiniest distance that people can notice
No shot.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161094-a-single-atom-is-visible-to-the-naked-eye-in-this-stunning-photo/