• Question: Whats the most expensive microscope?

    Asked by to Ian on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      At the moment, at 260 million quid it’s the Diamond light source in Oxfordshire – it’s a synchrotron.

      They’re little sisters to the LHC but instead of colliding particles they race electrons round a giant ring ( 96m ) at immense speeds.
      The electrons give off some of their energy in the form of incredibly bright light – including X-rays that we shone through crystals of virus. By collecting the patterns the X-rays made after going through the crystals ( and after a lot of maths I don’t understand ) we were able to see the individual atoms that made up the viruses.

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