A question struck me yesterday afternoon (editorial discretion prevents me revealing exactly why): what weight could you hang from a chemical bond before it broke? How many atoms?
I asked the rest of the team if they had any ideas, but got no answers I would be comfortable publishing! Still intrigued, I thought about it more while it was my turn on the tea rota.
It’s relatively easy to work out, with a little digging, but might surprise you. I’ll let you all stew on the question over the weekend – and suggest your own answers below – and return with my Fermi-style calculation on Monday!
Neil
Neil Withers (Associate Editor, Nature Chemistry)
~350 pN or ~400 nanograms or so?
Let’s try that again…40 ng
Is there a specific equation that should be used to solve this or is it one that you have to think outside the box on a bit? I am still very new to anything in chem more advanced then first year general chemistry in college and I am VERY interested in the world of chemistry.
1000+ atoms?
Neil, I posted by answer (a polymeric perspective, of course) at my blog. https://www.rheothing.com/2012/04/can-you-lift-polymer-from-one-end.html
Intriguing question.