University of Minnesota researchers have used an electron microscope to see heat propagation:
“As soon as we saw the waves, we knew it was an extremely exciting observation,” said lead researcher David Flannigan, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota. “Actually watching this process happen at the nanoscale is a dream come true.”
Flannigan said the movement of heat through the material looks like ripples on a pond after a pebble is dropped in the water. The videos show waves of energy moving at about 6 nanometers (0.000000006 meters) per picosecond (0.000000000001 second). Mapping the oscillations of energy, called phonons, at the nanoscale is critical to developing a detailed understanding of the fundamentals of thermal-energy motion.
I had no idea electron microscopes were so capable!
