00:00 Quantum chemistry is happening all around us all the time, but those reactions are microscopic,
00:08 even subatomic, and they're happening at incredible speeds.
00:12 This makes them extremely hard to observe.
00:14 However, now scientists have made it just a little bit easier by slowing the whole thing
00:18 down.
00:19 Quantum chemical reactions take place over a period of time known as femtoseconds, or
00:23 quadrillions of a second.
00:25 But now scientists have been able to observe that process after trapping a charged particle
00:29 in an electric field, slowing it down by 100 billion times.
00:33 This allowed the researchers to observe the process over milliseconds instead, giving
00:37 them time to take measurements.
00:39 They say this lets them map the change in state for the electrons present, or what they
00:43 liken to observing the way an airplane wing affects the air moving around it in a wind
00:46 tunnel, with the researchers writing, quote, "Our experiment wasn't a digital approximation
00:51 of the process.
00:52 This was a direct analog observation of the quantum dynamics, unfolding at a speed we
00:56 could observe."
00:57 And they add this is the first step in better understanding not only the world around us,
01:01 but aiding us in novel inventions as well, adding, "It is by understanding these basic
01:05 processes inside and between molecules that we can open up a new world of possibilities
01:10 in material science, drug design, or solar energy harvesting."
01:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17 (upbeat music)
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