the world's smallest movie made with individual atoms by IBM

a boy and his atom: the world’s smallest movie by IBM

scientists from IBM have developed the world’s smallest movie, made with one of the smallest elements in the universe: atoms. titled’ a boy and his atom,’ the record-breaking production uses thousands of precisely placed atoms to create nearly 250 frames of stop-motion action.

the film depicts a character named atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a playful journey that includes dancing, playing catch and bouncing on a trampoline. ‘capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original motion picture on the atomic-level is a precise science and entirely novel,’ says andreas heinrich, principle investigator at IBM research. ‘at IBM, researchers don’t just read about science, we do it. this movie is a fun way to share the atomic-scale world while opening up a dialogue with students and others on the new frontiers of math and science.’

a boy and his atom: the world’s smallest movievideo courtesy IBM

in order to make the movie, the atoms were positioned with an ibm-invented scanning tunneling microscope. ‘this nobel prize winning tool was the first device that enabled scientists to visualize the world all the way down to single atoms,’ adds christopher lutz, research scientist at IBM. ‘it weighs two tons, operates at a temperature of negative 268 degrees celsius and magnifies the atomic surface over 100 million times. the ability to control the temperature, pressure and vibrations at exact levels makes our ibm research lab one of the few places in the world where atoms can be moved with such precision.’

the record-breaking production uses thousands of precisely placed atoms to create nearly 250 frames of stop-motion action

remotely operated on a standard computer, IBM researchers used the microscope to control a super-sharp needle along a copper surface to “feel” atoms. only 1 nanometer away from the surface – which is a billionth of a meter in distance – the needle can physically attract atoms and molecules, pulling them to a precisely specified location on the surface. the moving atom makes a unique sound, helping determining how many positions on the grid it has actually moved.