What is the smallest mass that I can weigh?
Have you ever tried to ponder on what is the smallest mass that can be weighed.You may come up with figures in the range of microgram(10⁻⁶g), nanogram(10⁻⁹g) or at best picogram(10⁻¹²g).
Try to stretch your imagination a bit further. Can you believe it. Scientists at MIT have developed a new technology which makes it possible to weigh masses in the astonishingly low attogram level (10⁻¹⁵g) i.e millionth of a trillionth of a gram.
The research was started with weighing of masses of living cells as small as femtogram by scientists at MIT on the revolutionary principle of Suspended Microchannel Resonance (SMR).It will open up the unseen frontiers of research in synthetic nanoparticles and biological components of cells with applications in biotechnology and nanomedicine .
For more information on this technology click on the link :
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/weighing-particles-at-the-attogram-scale-0113.html
What is the smallest mass that can typically be weighed?
Common answers range from the microgram (10 to the power of minus 6 grams) down to the nanogram (10 to the power of minus 9 grams) or, at best, the picogram (10 to the power of minus 12 grams), but newer technology has pushed this limit far lower.
What is the smallest mass scientists have been able to weigh with new technology?
Scientists at MIT developed technology that can weigh masses at the attogram level, which is 10 to the power of minus 15 grams, or a millionth of a trillionth of a gram.
What principle enables attogram-level mass measurement?
The MIT technology is based on Suspended Microchannel Resonance (SMR), a principle that was originally used by the researchers to weigh femtogram-scale masses of living cells before being extended to even smaller attogram-scale measurements.
What was the technology originally used to weigh?
The research began with weighing the masses of living cells at the femtogram scale using the Suspended Microchannel Resonance principle, before the technique was advanced to the attogram level.
What applications could attogram-scale weighing enable?
This level of mass measurement opens up new frontiers of research into synthetic nanoparticles and biological components of cells, with applications in biotechnology and nanomedicine.