Electrons travel at a speed of 7.92 million kilometers per hour (about 1% of the speed of light) which allows them to circle the earth in just 18 seconds. Because of this extremely high speed, scientists have trouble taking images of moving electrons even using an electron microscope.
Researchers from the University of Arizona announced the success of building the world's fastest electron microscope which finally managed to capture the image of electron movement clearly for the first time.
Electron microscopes use electron movement to track the movement of atomic particles with pulses of electrons shot every few attoseconds. On the microscope developed by the U of A, an electron pulse is generated every 1 attosecond which is equivalent to the moment of movement of an electron particle. So for the first time the movement of electrons can be clearly recorded by scientists.
Professor Mohammed Hassan who led the research team said that the success of producing the world's fastest electron microscope will bring great progress in the world of physics, chemistry, bioengineering, material science and many more.