Unboxing a $1.5m Microscope - Sixty Symbols

Physicist Professor Philip Moriarty takes delivery of a new atomic force microscope - see his accompanying blog post here: muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.c...
More links and info below ↓ ↓ ↓
More videos with Phil: bit.ly/Prof_Moriarty
Previous videos about Phil's microscope work:
• Atomic Switch (moving ...
• The Sound of Atoms Bon...
• World's Smallest Chris...
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Video by Sean Riley and Brady Haran
www.bradyharanblog.com
Email list: eepurl.com/YdjL9

[@bucky13]

I never watch unboxings for something I plan to buy.. Ruins the experience. I think I'm safe watching this.

[@mybuddyphil8719]

You've jinxed yourself. Watch, now tomorrow you'll win the lottery and buy one of these but won't even be able to enjoy it.

[@bucky13]

@@mybuddyphil8719 At least I'll get the whole 65 day experience I suppose. I'd def buy one if I won the lottery.. Its got Prof. Moriarty acting like a kid with a new gaming PC for Christmas.

[@romanski5811]

Wait, which experience are you speaking of? Do you mean it ruins the experience of unboxing itself or does it ruin the experience of the product as a whole?

[@bucky13]

@@romanski5811 Just the unboxing. It's a big consideration with expensive products these days.

[@AoiPride]

Capitalism at its finest :))

[@maafaa5698]

I love that the 30 grand bottle of helium is kept in a draw with a broken handle.

[@martisalvador2423]

14:00

[@DemonKyle]

They blew their budget on the helium, no new desk draws for them.

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

That's uni research lab for ya.

[@Mikeontube]

they definitely needed that bottle fast at some point :D

[@veryboringname.]

The bottle is actually empty as they've used it. I wonder where they kept it before.

[@whoareyou9512]

It seems like someone is having a lot of fun with his christmas present!

[@ClassicGOD]

"With this $1.5m microscope we can finally show you that atoms have feelings and miss their neighbours"

[@MeppyMan]

But they also like their personal space and don’t like getting too close.

[@mfx1]

Love it when the field service/installation technician is also the designer.

[@robgruhl3439]

DevOps! 😄

[@sanches2]

and the technician has a Ph.D.

[@lampman1337]

its amazing how nowadays you need "only" 1.5M$ to image individual atoms.

[@RFC-3514]

And the thing is, you can image _lots_ of atoms at the same time for a lot _less._ If that's not quantum evidence of the benefits of mass production and economies of scale, I don't know what is!

[@yeet1337]

The thing is there are even cheaper "more basic" electron microscopes, it's only that this one is a crazy high-precision device.

[@RFC-3514]

@@MapedMod - Well, my cousin has been moving gold atoms for years, and he never needed an electron microscope. He just uses a crowbar and a big sack with a dollar sign.

[@MeppyMan]

@@yeet1337 you can even build one yourself.

[@duncanhall7228]

@@RFC-3514 Brilliant.

[@HFeyn]

Cool af. This channel still lit even after a decade.

[@GeeItSomeLaldy]

No no no, it's not lit. He explains in the video, it doesn't use Optics ;)

[@1224chrisng]

@@GeeItSomeLaldy they're cooling it down in fact, so they want it as non-lit as possible

[@ocelot667]

As someone who builds it's bigger brother (transmission electron microscopes) as a job. It makes me incredibly proud to see them in use.

[@Diepvries11]

TFS

[@alimanski7941]

So, what is the difference between the two types?

[@Diepvries11]

@@alimanski7941 An electron microscope uses electrons, a tunneling microscope uses tunnels.

[@miroslavivanov5551]

@@alimanski7941 If I remember correctly, the biggest difference is in the type of image produced. Scanning electron microscopes scan the surface of a given sample - the images produced look more like actual photographs ( the greyscale image of a tardigrade comes to mind ). Transmission electron microscopes produce images that look much more like classical microscope images/slides.

[@klemitia]

Can you help save your country? The poor people are in trouble. Our governments are declaring war on us. We need help from people like you. Please turn your talents to helping your community, because it is crumbling. We don't need more microscopes. Please I beg you, help us.

[@adrianhammes8153]

14:05 I like that he first has to search for his 30k£ helium-3 bottle between the documents in the drawer with the broken-off handle

[@michaelsommers2356]

Obviously, that's the last place a helium-3 burglar would look for it.

[@azpcox]

So, depositing single gold atoms with this STM is the equivalent of “Hello World” in programming? Fantastic build and explanation!

[@aligatorsandwitch72]

It's never a Moriarty video without the classic Primus t-shirt

[@robertalien1607]

Pork Soda!!!

[@DeathlyTired]

The foil origami crane is an essential feature for an atomic force microscope.

[@pearceburns2787]

13:52 for a timestamp

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

Thanks, Daria

[@1224chrisng]

foil origami is an essential feature of a certain other scope if you know what I mean, and just as expensive too

[@iabervon]

The instructions said to install it with a crane, and you should always follow the instructions exactly.

[@burpleson]

My PhD thesis, in 1987, was about modeling differential conductance in the STM. It's amazing to see how far these instruments have come.

[@Danji_Coppersmoke]

Interesting. Could you point me out some of the ref you had work on. I wonder if it is possible that the current noise in some situations are due to oscillation from differential conductance.

[@delusionnnnn]

"What colour is an atom?" Counter clockwise.

[@Jobobn1998]

Man, I love Sixty Symbols. I'm sad we don't get as much of it as we used to.

[@treyblakeandrew]

Might be connected to the pandemic and many of these professors being on the older side

[@TAP7a]

It's clearly because physics is nearly over and they're running out /s

[@standowner6979]

@@TAP7a 😂😆😆😆

[@standowner6979]

@@TAP7a That was surprisingly funny. You do know the same was said by the end of the 19th century?

[@Markle2k]

@@standowner6979 Somewhat appropriately, by Lord Kelvin.

[@Deano.1978]

This is the best 60 symbols vlog ever. The passion, the insane engineering in the kit, the setup and anticipation, the learning with hands on exp at 3am (feedback loop to passion) its got it all. Phil is a great dude, anyone who learns off him is should be humble and proud.

[@mhyzon1]

Stuff like this makes me miss being an experimental physicist. Fond memories of helium 3 dilution refrigerators, high vacuum, high voltage, and radiation systems back in university and grad school.

[@colouredmirrorball]

That was the best part (but the rest wasn't worth it for me)

[@walkieer]

What do you do now?

[@ersp1]

Please tell me you aren't in finance.

[@mhyzon1]

I work in tech. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515]

And leak detection

[@emanggitulah4319]

Hope to more videos soon from the new toy. Thanks for sharing the build process and all the excitement

[@rocketsocks]

Wow! Honestly I'm kinda surprised that an STM-AFM is so "inexpensive". I remember when STMs first started making headlines back when I was in school. I even remember back when the "official line" in the textbooks was that individual atoms were "impossible" to ever see, how times have changed.

[@TheHuesSciTech]

Pedantically, the old textbooks are not wrong; atoms *are* actually impossible to see... here they're being "felt", and the result of that feeling process is being displayed visually on the screen.

[@douro20]

It is possible to see within the space of an atom, though; there is a gigantic TEM at Hitachi's central R&D lab which has a resolution of 43 picometers. A hydrogen atom has a diameter of 120 picometers.

[@TheHuesSciTech]

@@douro20 That's electrons, not light. The point I'm making here is that it's unfair to insinuate that a textbook was wrong for saying that atoms are impossible to see, since claiming the existence of electron microscopes as a counterexample is rather missing the point.

[@BILLY-px3hw]

They are impossible to "see" because of the limitation of the wavelengths of visible light at atomic scales

[@Andytlp]

@@TheHuesSciTech Yeah sure give it 50 more years and theyll figure out how to add sub atomic particles to an atom to get certain properties that dont exist in nature and then building whatever the heck you want atom by atom.

[@SaraBearRawr0312]

I love the scientists and presenters across the numberphile/sixty symbols/Periodic Videos/computerphile channels but Prof. Moriarty is a personal favorite of mine.

[@WilliamDye-willdye]

I implore everyone who works with complex automated equipment to re-watch 25:51. Summary: the best way to use automation is to NOT use automation -- not until you've done it by hand a few times. Don't use the easy button until you don't need the easy button.

[@thequantumworld6960]

Thanks for this comment. I agree entirely, of course! :-) Philip (Moriarty, speaking in video)

[@russmiddleton5486]

Yep, automation is easy until you try it.

[@vtron9832]

This is the best unboxing video I have ever seen.

[@terraqueo89]

This is some next level unboxing right here! Always good to see prof. Moriarty!

[@CaptainBohnenbrot]

What a likable fella Thomas Berghaus seems to be.

[@fonkbadonk5370]

A proper engineer imho. Knows insanely much, but seems humble enough to acknowledge that all that knowledge was built through centuries and similarly great minds, with many more to follow, which are just the ones he delivers his tools to. He really appears to have his brain in the right place.

[@DenfordBerriman]

This was my first Sixty Symbols video which then led me to the first video onward and now I've made it back to this one. What an amazing journey it's been. Thanks Brady and everyone!

[@smaakjeks]

For the cost of that microscope, you can get almost one whole Tomahawk missile.

[@The0007rishabh]

Or one and a half million handkerchiefs. Whats your point?

[@smaakjeks]

@@The0007rishabh A microscope is of use to humanity, yet so much money is wasted on increasing destruction and misery.

[@The0007rishabh]

@@smaakjeks ohk

[@t-windy8307]

Congraduations Dr. philip! Such a big work ;) This gives us lots of instructions for the building of mk STM here.

[@cele42]

man, prof. Moriarty never fails to impress, and I'm not saying this as a Primus fanboy

[@BookOnThrough]

and it's a Pork Soda shirt, no less

[@rampel1]

Hey! I feel cheated. I thought there would be an affiliate link with promo code! This is one serious piece of kit. Thanks for sharing the unboxing and some of the installation steps you went though.

[@abdullahmsa7027]

15:37 Well, the room celling is apparently leaking water from the right top corner on 1.5 M machine :(

[@andymouse]

This makes me all emotional as I used to be in this industry commissioning Spectroscopy and Microscopy instruments and it took me all over the world like the guys here, can we follow your work with the instrument please ? also who makes it especially the LEED ?....cheers.

[@thequantumworld6960]

The instrument is made by a company called Unisoku -- see the blog post linked in the video information. It's a SPECS LEED system. Philip (Moriarty, speaking in video)

[@andymouse]

@@thequantumworld6960 Thanks !

[@harshprajapati9251]

Its crazy that i gave a presentation on STM last week and seeing one get unbox next week. Such a powerful equipment. Thanks sixty symbols..

[@gregorymccoy6797]

What a Christmas gift! The professor is bubbling with enthusiasm. I imagine a thick book of an IKEA-style assembly manual, complete with cartoon man somewhere in the lab.

[@DanielGomez-mn5po]

This was amazing to watch. Professor Moriarty's dedication is admirable.

[@jakefeasey413]

That was fantastic to watch! Thanks for sharing what is probably the most unique and interesting (and longest) unboxing there has ever been.

[@levyroth]

This was amazing and humbling to watch. Some people are simply on another level. Must be cool to work with the guy who invented anything really.

[@PuReWiReZ]

I just bought one of these off amazon so I'm glad someone made an assembly instructions video already.

[@alanparker3130]

New to the channel and catching up. Lovely to see some real hands-on experimental physics with no wormholes, black holes or strings in sight. Great job!

[@mytelevisionisdead]

Wow this is amazing, and the finale totally at the end with the viz of electron waves is just stunning.

[@barefootalien]

Amazing! Thank you for the effort of filming and sharing this!

[@chrisdark999]

I remember doing this with a Cameca NanoSIMS50 when it was the first installed in UK (at Oxford) and the 6th in the world, was awesome fun learning how to use it by literally putting it together!

[@MrYukon2010]

That is a great addition to your equipment! Congrats.

[@twothreebravo]

I guess it was 1989ish when they did the IBM in xenon atoms and I was in high school and I remember marveling at what this meant for the future of chemistry, physics, and technology in general. Here we are 33 years later and now with this channel's help, I'm marveling at watching a brand new generation of STM not only get installed but rather than a grainy photo in a newspaper in full HD I'm watching a bleary-eyed but joyful Prof Moriarty deposit atoms of his own and then finding the natural triangle feature with the electron waves. Amazing stuff.

[@ALAPINO]

I used to work around military logistics, from time to time we'd see other departments and federal agencies surplus or dispose of SEM and other hugely expensive devices for fractions of pennies on the dollar. It boggles the mind what machines smarter men and women have made.

[@MikkelHojbak]

Technologies improve and old equipment gets worn. Heavy deprecation is natural for top of the line equipment.

[@scottpitner4298]

This is such an amazing piece of science technology. I know nothing about these of course but would be neat to learn and use. Awesome Video, thanks!

[@cmootrey]

This was so exciting to watch! The Pork Soda t-shirt was an absolute added bonus! ♡

[@obnoxious_cow3582]

The fact that as a species we went from throwing sticks and rocks at animals, living in caves to building machines capable to replicate the environment of space in order to look at the building blocks of reality is mind blowing.

[@antti5717]

This is an amazing video, thank you so much for producing and publishing it

[@martir.7653]

7:25 This instrument sounds even more promising than the Retro Encabulator!

[@MrMotchel]

yay! that was by far one of your best videos. looking forward!!!!!!

[@Naveenkumar-kx9uu]

I have waited for long time to watch videos . This video comes as a surprise and worth a wait

[@confuso1]

Always an awesome feeling when new tools are installed

[@PestOnYT]

Very nice video. Thanks a lot. Great to see these kind of devices and a glimpse of how they work.

[@silmarian]

This is so exciting for you all, I look forward to hearing more! This also makes me wonder if the lorry drivers who transport these things give more of a damn when it's £1.5 million of scientific equipment over, say, a couple million in consumer electronics.

[@AlexHutan]

I treat all my cargo like scientific equipment

[@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515]

Insurance

[@snozzmcberry2366]

Some feats of science & technology just get to you. That "fancy" piezoelectric crystal setup absolutely blew me away. I love it. I absolutely love the fact that's a thing, and that it's being used like this. Fantastic.

[@Wallyisking]

I've learned a tremendous amount just from watching a few of your videos, thank you for sharing!

[@grindforcolumbine]

Primus fan as well as a scientist, excellent.

[@marcovpv]

Congratulations on finding a Triforce piece!(26:56) and with the STM of course.

[@PeterHuncar]

One of the best if not the best KZbin video I've seen in years!

[@wrtlpfmpf]

Piezoelectric actuators are also found in quite a few consumer video tape recorders. They are needed to track the video tracks accurately. On consumer systems there typically is no margin between the tracks so you need to track it very closely.

[@framegrace1]

And in HDD's

[@DaPenguin]

Current value. Nice one, Professor Moriarty.

[@BenMitro]

Fantastic. Illustrates what a person with the skills, training and imagination can create.

[@doxielain2231]

I would love to see more videos on this, now that it's been up for a year.

[@Pengochan]

AFAIK what the STM actually shows is electron orbitals, with the voltage determining the orbitals "seen". One image i really like is "quantum corral", it shows that some surface states can extend over several atoms and really visualizes an actual wave function. I think it's from the same group that did the IBM letters by atoms.

[@thequantumworld6960]

Indeed. Thanks for raising this (although STM maps probability density, not the wavefunction. The latter is not an observable.) Please see the blog post linked in the video information for more. Philip (Moriarty, speaking in video)

[@metabeard3788]

Very cool! I worked on a project last year to install a cryogenic electron microscope. Wish we'd gotten them to do a timelapse of the install. Is the a skylight or roof hatch directly above it? Looks like you get some roof leaks judging by the stain in the corner. Hope you've sealed it up over this beautiful machine!

[@luisperdigao6204]

Congratulations for your new toy. Nice that you are trying to make quantum corals. Just those triangles at the end... I used to see them often with crashed tips and I always argued that it is the tip that has that surface and the gold is acting like a tip.

[@Jack__________]

This was great! By far one of my favorite channels!

[@Migs3]

Wow. I salute the scientists who's passion makes these instruments possible.

[@realspacemodels]

Excellent use of the Wilhelm Scream!

[@yourguard4]

You can keep the microscope, I want to play with the box! :D

[@bdr420i]

Congrats and happy new year ❤️

[@HaileISela]

happy to see the ending with that triangle, it's very synergetic

[@potatothistle]

Thanks for sharing the passion!

[@Olhado256]

I did not expect to enjoy this video as much as I did!

[@millamulisha]

Happy for your lab! Great for Condensed matter physics. 🥂

[@johnopalko5223]

What a beautiful piece of machinery!

[@ChrisLhamon]

This is possibly my favorite Sixty Symbols video. I'm taking some physics courses while working, and I would love to do this. I found out the other day that my university does have the hardware. I might need to work on my grades a little, but I could get a research opportunity with this equipment. That's what's motivating me right now. This is pretty amazing. $1.5m is a bargain!

[@michaelhultstrom]

Amazing! I have a question, those electron wave patterns you showed at the end. Are they something that would be described by the wave function Ψ?

[@smallberries]

Amazing. Congrats on your new instrument.

[@laskieg]

This is the last channel I expected would do an unboxing video!

[@dakotaschuck]

Dr. Moriarty's speaking voice is just so resonant and grand. Could listen all day. Also interesting topic so that's cool too 😛👍

[@guilldea]

Best video I've seen in a while!

[@gutspraygore]

7:25 I need to memorize this. I can use it whenever anyone asks me what I'm doing. Or when I need foil. This was absolutely brilliant to watch. Get some sleep, Professor!

[@nineball039]

The machine causes eyes to close.

[@johnchristian5027]

This was great to watch!

[@CocoaBeachLiving]

Now this is an unboxing worth watching 👍

[@austin5060]

Now this is the type of unboxing video I wanna see

[@dexio85]

Best unboxing out there :)

[@janpaul74]

Love the fact that he is standing in front of a sign that says “Sorry, only 2 people in this room at once” where clearly there are more people - even excluding the cameraman.

[@fburton8]

I believe that was a deliberate quantum superposition of n people in a 2 people room. That can happen in physics labs.

[@janpaul74]

@@fburton8 yeah but the door of "the box" was open so that doesn't make sense.

[@cadabanban5382]

Thanks, for all of us who will never have the occasion for that kind of unboxing. Thanks a lot. Science is our world's magic and i love it.

[@cocosloan3748]

So glad your instrument works well . 👍

[@Vector_Ze]

Although assembled on-site, I can't help but be impressed that this is a manufactured 'unit'. That is, as opposed to the electron microscopes of 80-years ago.

[@Rich1ab]

Great vid! Thank you!

[@threehatmarbo8272]

Sorry you got shafted with Agilent's worst pump series. Those IDP scrolls have a terrible habit of failing right at 8000 hours and as with every scroll pump will potentially contaminate your shop and system with tip seal dust. A better option for dry pumps would be the newer roots rotary pumps like the Neodry series from Kashiyama or the Ecodry series from Leybold. Base pressures are lower on average, runtime hours in the high 30-40,000s rather than 8-10000, and they're also far quieter for your shop. Loved seeing the Varian 979 helium mass spectrometer in the background, it's rare to see those when I'm not at work. Great vid and best of luck with the pumps.

[@Tonicwine999]

Brilliant episode

[@Hiero1986]

Excellent video, as always - love you have a £1.1 microscope in a room with a huge water stain running out of one of the ceiling tiles! :D

[@sacredkinetics.lns.8352]

Beautifully done. 👽

[@Human_Evolution-]

A Primus shirt, love that. Lol

[@phlanjo]

I'd like to watch a discussion between Kurt Jumangal and Philip Moriarty at some point. Great video, thanks for involving us!

[@picobyte]

Sweeet! I love microscopes.. and all the other science stuff on this channel 👌

[@HughPryor]

Are these used for industrial scale processes? If not how long will it be before we have devices in our cars or living rooms with components made with STM/AFMs? Well done for getting it installed!