Accidental synthesis of two-atom thick glass wins place in Guinness World Records

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margin-right: 9px;">SCIENCE</a> </div>  <h1 id="ar_title">Accidental synthesis of two-atom thick glass wins place in Guinness World Records</h1> <div class="summary_details_left"> <p>By <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/author/brian-dodson/" rel="author">Brian Dodson</a></p> <p><em>October 3, 2013</em></p> </div> <div class="summary_details_right"> <div class="has_pictures"><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures">7 Pictures</a></div> </div> </div> <div id="article_share_rail"> <div class="as_button"><div class="fb-like" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/" data-send="false" data-layout="box_count" data-show-faces="false"></div><script type="text/javascript">_ga.trackFacebook();</script></div> <div class="as_button"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-via="gizmag">Tweet</a></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="g-plusone" data-size="tall" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/"></div></div> <div class="as_button"><iframe style="overflow: hidden; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743if_/http://badge.stumbleupon.com/badge/embed/5/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gizmag.com%2Fcornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record%2F29275%2F" width="50" height="60" id="iframe-stmblpn-widget-1"></iframe></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="pin-it-button" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743oe_/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/" data-image="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record.jpg" data-description="In 2012, a one-molecule thick layer of silica glass was accidently made in the laboratory of Cornell professor David Muller, allowing the atoms in a glass to be seen individually for the first time. Now, Guinness World Records has identified this ultimately thin glass as a 2014 World Record."></div></div> <div class="as_button"><script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div> <div class="as_button" id="reddit_button_rail"><script type="text/javascript">reddit_newwindow='1'</script></div> <div class="as_button" id="email_a_friend_rail"><span class="email_a_friend">Email</span></div> </div> <div id="hero_box" style="width: 530px;"> <a id="hero_link" href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/hero/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record.jpg" title="Cornell professor David Muller and grad student Pinshane Huang show a model of the atomic ..." width="530" height="297" alt="Cornell professor David Muller and grad student Pinshane Huang show a model of the atomic ..."/></a> <div class="pic_caption"> <p>Cornell professor David Muller and grad student Pinshane Huang show a model of the atomic structure of the world's thinnest glass (Photo: Cornell University)</p> <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures" id="gallery_link">Image Gallery</a> (7 images) </div> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div class="article_body"> <div id="top_unit"></div> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743js_/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> <p>In 2012, a two atom thick layer of silica glass was accidently made in the laboratory of Cornell professor David Muller, allowing the atoms in a glass to be seen individually for the first time. Now, Guinness World Records has identified this ultimately thin glass as a 2014 World Record.</p> <ul id="gallery_images"> <li><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures#1" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record-0.jpg" title="A cartoon model of a two-dimensional silica glass on the left is compared with an atomic r..." alt="A cartoon model of a two-dimensional silica glass on the left is compared with an atomic r..."/></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures#2" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record-2.jpg" title="Comparison of a 2D quartz crystal on the left to a 2D silica glass on the right (Photo: Un..." alt="Comparison of a 2D quartz crystal on the left to a 2D silica glass on the right (Photo: Un..."/></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures#3" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record-3.jpg" title="The glassiness of the molecule thick silica glass grown by the Cornell researchers varies ..." alt="The glassiness of the molecule thick silica glass grown by the Cornell researchers varies ..."/></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures#4" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record-4.jpg" title="Three-dimensional images of the one-molecule thick layer of glass atop a graphene substrat..." alt="Three-dimensional images of the one-molecule thick layer of glass atop a graphene substrat..."/></a></li> <li id="view_all"><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures" class="blue">View all<br/></a></li> </ul> <div class="clear_both"></div> <p>While best known for informing the world that the world's smallest dog is 3.8 inches (9.7 cm) high, or that the longest chocolate sausage ever made was 250 feet (76.2 m) in length, Guinness World Records (better known in the US as the Guinness Book of World Records) also casts its eye on remarkable facts and achievements in science and technology. In selecting new records for its 2014 book, Guinness has focused in on the thinnest piece of glass, the result of a processing accident in a Cornell laboratory engaged in studying the properties of graphene. The Cornell glass is two atoms in thickness, and shows the lack of long-range order expected of a two-dimensional glass.</p> <p>The silica glass (silicon dioxide, or sand) layers discovered by Prof. Muller's team were grown by accident while growing <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/graphene-metal-corrosion/24434/" target="_blank">graphene</a> on a copper film mounted on a quartz (crystalline silica) substrate. The graphene layer was being grown using chemical vapor deposition, a method in which a gaseous hydrocarbon decomposes at a highly heated growth surface, thereby providing a source of carbon with which to grow the graphene layer.</p> <p>When the researchers inspected the graphene layer, they noticed that a portion of it was discolored. On testing, the discoloration turned out to be a one-molecule thick layer of silica glass. While reproducing the conditions for growth of the glass has not yet been successful, Prof. Muller speculates that the cause of the unusual growth may have been a tiny air leak into the chamber just prior to beginning to grow the graphene.</p> <div style="width: 530px; height: 409px; " class="article_img"><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures#1" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/inline/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record-0.jpg" width="530" alt="A cartoon model of a two-dimensional silica glass on the left is compared with an atomic r..."/></a></div> <p>Electron microscopy showed that the atomic structure of the glass layer, grown atop about three layers of graphene, was in excellent agreement with glass structures predicted in 1932 by Prof. W.H. Zachariasen of the University of Chicago. The idea is that the chemical bonds in the glass are nearly the same as those in the crystalline form, but the basic SiO<sub>4</sub> tetrahedra are linked together randomly.</p> <div style="width: 530px; height: 362px; " class="article_img"><a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/pictures#3" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/inline/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record-2.jpg" width="530" alt="Comparison of a 2D quartz crystal on the left to a 2D silica glass on the right (Photo: Un..."/></a></div> <p>The figure above shows the structure of two-dimensional quartz on the left, and two-dimensional silica glass on the right. The black dots are the silicon atoms, and the open circles are oxygen atoms. While the crystalline quartz structure is composed entirely of six-member rings (six silicon atoms and six oxygen atoms), the silica glass has ring sizes ranging between about four and eight members, and even the six-member rings appear distorted.</p> <p>Guinness may be most interested in this work as having produced the world's thinnest glass, but the lasting value will be in the direct atomic images that demonstrate that an inorganic glass has the sort of structure we always thought it had. This is not a surprise, but there is something satisfying about evidence in the form of an image – evidence that can be taken in at a glance. Prof. Muller's lucky creation has turned into a demonstration of physical law that will be well appreciated 100 years from now.</p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743/http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/09/shattering-records-thinnest-glass-guinness-book" target="_blank">Cornell University</a></p>    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743js_/http://static.fmpub.net/zone/7980"></script> <div id="bottom_unit"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743js_/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </div> </div> <span class="title share_bar">Share</span> <div id="article_share_bar" class="dotsontop share_bar"> <div class="as_button fb_as_button"><div class="fb-like" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/" data-send="false" data-layout="box_count" data-show-faces="false"></div><script type="text/javascript">_ga.trackFacebook();</script></div> <div class="as_button"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-via="gizmag">Tweet</a></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="g-plusone" data-size="tall" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/"></div></div> <div class="as_button"><iframe style="overflow: hidden; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743if_/http://badge.stumbleupon.com/badge/embed/5/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gizmag.com%2Fcornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record%2F29275%2F" width="50" height="60" id="iframe-stmblpn-widget-2"></iframe></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="pin-it-button" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743oe_/http://www.gizmag.com/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record/29275/" data-image="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/cornell-thinnest-glass-guinness-world-records-record.jpg" data-description="In 2012, a one-molecule thick layer of silica glass was accidently made in the laboratory of Cornell professor David Muller, allowing the atoms in a glass to be seen individually for the first time. Now, Guinness World Records has identified this ultimately thin glass as a 2014 World Record."></div></div> <div class="as_button"><script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div> <div class="as_button" id="reddit_button_bar"><script type="text/javascript">reddit_newwindow='1'</script></div> <div class="as_button" id="email_a_friend_bar"><span class="email_a_friend">Email</span></div> </div>  <span class="title clear_left" id="author_byline_title">About the Author</span> <div class="dotsontop" id="authorcontainer">  <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/author/brian-dodson/"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010743im_/http://images.gizmag.com/author_profiles/164.jpg" alt="Brian Dodson" id="bio_pic"/> </a>   From an early age Brian wanted to become a scientist. He did, earning a Ph.D. in physics and embarking on an R&D; career which has recently broken the 40th anniversary. What he didn't expect was that along the way he would become a patent agent, a rocket scientist, a gourmet cook, a biotech entrepreneur, an opera tenor and a science writer.   <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/author/brian-dodson/">All articles by Brian Dodson</a> <span id="author_byline_links">   </span> <br class="clear_both"> </div>  <div id="tags"> <span class="title">Tags</span> <div class="dotsontop"> <ul> <li>» <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/cornell-university/" rel="tag">Cornell University</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/glass/" rel="tag">Glass</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/thin+film/" rel="tag">Thin Film</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20131005010743/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/world-record/" rel="tag">World Records</a></li> </ul> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> </div> <div id="bing_unit"></div> <span class="title">Post a Comment</span> <div class="dotsontop" 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Accidental synthesis of two-atom thick glass wins place in Guinness World Records