Minuscule clusters of atoms don’t hold their shapes as well as hold-in-your-hand solids do. Understanding such instability is a growing priority as circuits, machines, and other structures shrink to atomic scales (SN: 2/15/03, p. 110: Streams plus nanostrands equals electricity).
Now, using ultrafast lasers, physicists at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville have observed that clusters randomly morph between different arrangements, or isomers, many times within a nanosecond.
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