Chemists Predict Ghostly Molecule
Sam Lemonick, Chemistry World
You might want to leave the lights on tonight; scientists say ghosts can exist. Theorists predict conditions to create a so-called ghost moleculea single atom with electron density that resembles that of unusual two-atom molecules (Phys. Rev. Lett. 2018, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.113203).Besides expanding chemists' understanding of chemical bonding, these oddities could serve as components of quantum computers, if researchers can find a way to make them.
You might want to leave the lights on tonight; scientists say ghosts can exist. Theorists predict conditions to create a so-called ghost moleculea single atom with electron density that resembles that of unusual two-atom molecules (Phys. Rev. Lett. 2018, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.113203).Besides expanding chemists' understanding of chemical bonding, these oddities could serve as components of quantum computers, if researchers can find a way to make them.