Nanoscale snowman

Simon sez, "David Cox at the UK National Physical Laboratory has created this snowman, which is ~20µm high."

The snowman was made from two tin beads used to calibrate electron microscope astigmatism. The eyes and smile were milled using a focused ion beam, and the nose, which is under 1 µm wide (or 0.001 mm), is ion beam deposited platinum.
A nanomanipulation system was used to assemble the parts 'by hand' and platinum deposition was used to weld all elements together. The snowman is mounted on a silicon cantilever from an atomic force microscope whose sharp tip 'feels' surfaces creating topographic surveys at almost atomic scales.

Christmas 2009 : Educate + Explore : National Physical Laboratory (Thanks, Simon!)

Previously:

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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The Snowden Principle

hhype

Thank you, jere7my, for pointing out that “nano” doesn’t apply here. Using the criteria here, I am a nanoscale person, I just happen to be 1.8 billion nm tall. I remember when everything tiny didn’t have nano tacked onto it. Michael Smith , perhaps on mercury you could get tin snowfall.
- AnthonyC
  
  “perhaps on mercury you could get tin snowfall”
  
  There was a report a few months ago about an exoplanet so hot it rained rock.
MadMolecule

If there were a print-quality version of this available, I’d totally make it my Christmas card.
cmacis

And the cost to the lab was…
misterjuju

Beautiful!!!
Now, make one Calvin & Hobbs style ;)
joeposts

It’s so cute. Just look at it!
jere7my

Isn’t this a microscale snowman, Dr. O? The smallest thing on there is almost a thousand nm across.
Bazilisk

Can somebody with more knowledge of microscopic things than I, compare this to the size of something else- compared to the size of an animal cell, or a virus, or bacterium or something?
- jere7my
  
  Bazilisk, most animal cells are about 10-30Âµm across, so this snowman is about the size of an animal cell. (MadMolecule is correct, too â€” red blood cells are smaller than the average cell.)
  
  Here’s a picture of some euglena (a smallish microorganism) with 20Âµm (the height of the snowman) conveniently marked:
  
  http://www.lifesciences.napier.ac.uk/smaefiles/catchment/benhaar-euglena.jpg
- MadMolecule
  
  As near as I can figure, the head of the snowman is about twice the diameter of a red blood cell. But I’m no nanoscientist either.
benjamin_sachs

I for one welcome our new nanoscale snowman overlords.
Michael Smith

But its not made of snow.
- joeposts
  
  It’s a tinman, then. :p
sf

Sure beats finding a cancer cure.
- placemat
  
  You don’t think a cure for cancer might be aided by our ability to manipulate very small things? Maybe the snowman should have been frowning, to show how serious research is. :(
  - arkizzle / Moderator
    
    Placemat,
    
    Serious win.
- arkizzle / Moderator
  
  SF, how you coming along with that? Through med school yet?
LeFunk

Cute! I would not not be afraid of grey goo if it would consist of these fellas.
- phisrow
  
  Even if the multiplied every 20 minutes and were VERYVERYHUNGRY?
Anonymous

Um… wouldn’t this in fact be a tin man?