South Korean scientists have developed the world’s most minor ball game based on atoms, the world’s tiniest ball game. The researchers were able to make the atoms move around like balls in the air by using a technique called optical traps. An optical trap (also known as an optical tweezer) is a method that uses light to move objects with a firm grip.
Physicists believe that because of the atomic throwing and catching devices in this game, atoms can move easily from one net to another. Professor Jae-wook Ahn, a professor in the Department of Physics at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, told the Korean Daily that this was the first time an atom had traveled from one end to another. As Professor Ahn explained, the atomic ball travels between the two optical traps just as the ball travels between the pitcher and the catcher in a baseball game between the pitcher and the catcher.
For the game, Professor Ahn and his colleagues used rubidium (an alkaline metal) atoms which were cooled to about minus 273 degrees Celsius and were used as atoms. It was necessary to turn these traps on and off for the atom to be dropped and then turned on again to be caught. At a speed of 65 cm/s, the atoms traveled 4.2 micrometers from one end of the cell to the other, covering a distance of 4.2 micrometers.
