Scientists Create 'World's Smallest Violin' (bbc.com) 38
Physicists at Loughborough University have created what they believe is the world's smallest violin, measuring just 35 microns long and 13 microns wide -- smaller than the width of a human hair, which typically ranges from 17 to 180 microns in diameter. The microscopic instrument, created using the university's new nanolithography system, serves as a demonstration of precision manufacturing capabilities that researchers will apply to studies of computing efficiency and energy harvesting methods.
The team used a NanoFrazor machine employing thermal scanning probe lithography, where a heated needle-like tip etches highly precise patterns at the nanoscale onto a chip coated with gel-like resist material. While the individual violin takes roughly three hours to produce, the research team spent several months refining their techniques to achieve the final result, which exists as a microscopic image rather than a playable instrument.
The team used a NanoFrazor machine employing thermal scanning probe lithography, where a heated needle-like tip etches highly precise patterns at the nanoscale onto a chip coated with gel-like resist material. While the individual violin takes roughly three hours to produce, the research team spent several months refining their techniques to achieve the final result, which exists as a microscopic image rather than a playable instrument.
Playing (Score:1)
And it's playing just for you.
What's the smallest box USPS offers? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
And it's playing just for you.
Played by Taylor Swift, a bromance breakup song allegedly.
Re: Playing (Score:2)
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Now we just need to determine the world's saddest song to play on it...
It looks like... (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Huh. I thought it looked more like an Amati!
Re: (Score:2)
It looks a bit like a stradivirus.
(emphasis mine).
Next up, the stradivaccine.
So just the world's smallest PICTURE of a violin (Score:5, Informative)
Ceci n'est pas un violon.
Re: (Score:2)
Correct, this is not a violin.
Re: (Score:2)
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That's a moon.
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Re: So just the world's smallest PICTURE of a viol (Score:2)
sonic wavelength (Score:3)
is it even *possible* for an item that much smaller to generate audio waves in the needed frequency?
It would seem to me that that function is a prerequisite to using the name.
This, rather, seems to be a curiosity in the general shape of a violin.
Re:sonic wavelength (Score:5, Informative)
It's just a drawing, not a functional violin. It's a test pattern, perhaps one that even came with the software included in the machine. It isn't the smallest they could do with the machine they have, it isn't either the most interesting pattern they could do: with thermal tip lithography, they can do 2.5D (low relief). They captured the interest of a journalist at BBC about entertainment with science. I guess it's a good way to convey the message that science is fun and you should study.
This is not a violin. (Score:2)
Ce n'est pas un violon.
But who is it for? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps it's a "clickbait study" ? Researchers knew the reference might catch some peoples' interest, otherwise it's a dull and boring study, and they might get near zero clicks
Not Really Impressive (Score:2)
So this is the world’s smallest picture of a violin. It’s a few microns. In contrast: A Boy and His Atom is a whole movie made by IBM using atoms and is much smaller than a few microns. Microchips are complex images of transistors etched into silicon nanometers wide. Sure, they’re not a pretty picture of a violin but their form is likely more precise. I’m not quite sure what the BBC is going for here with this report, but miniaturization dominates technology fields.
What's that? (while rubbing forefinger to thumb) (Score:2)
The world's smallest violin, playing "I'm so sorry for you"
What is this? (Score:2)
A million dollar question (Score:2)
How is the sound quality?
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And imagine, a Beowulf cluster.
Re: A million dollar question (Score:2)
bbc clickbait (Score:1)
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“Clickbait” is a bit of an overreaction.
Much less amazing than that (Score:2)
They created the world's smallest PICTURE of a violin, if you read the fine print, not an instrument at all.
A picture is one thing, a 3-d model with strings or without strings, even, quite another. Don't even get me started on the tuning knobs or hollow body.
Need a tardigrade to play it (Score:2)
They need to teach a tardigrade how to play this, thereby justifying all the memes. (An image search for "tardigrade playing violin" will produce multiple examples.)
Qualifications? (Score:2)
I presume in order to play this violin one must be one of the five most sarcastic people on earth.
for Donald Trump (Score:1)
Mona lisa (Score:3)
How can no one talk about the music it plays (Score:1)
Plot twist (Score:1)
Plot twist: it's a viola.
The violin will come next year when they can print even smaller.
the bbc (Score:1)
Confusing a picture of a thing with the thing itself.
It simply reminds me that BBC hasn't been about precise, careful, actual journalism for some time now.