this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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1.2 Å (feddit.org)
submitted 6 months ago by Stitch0815@feddit.org to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

EM = electromagnetic? Å = a Swedish letter? What am I missing?

[–] mononomi@feddit.nl 23 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I think this is referring to electron microscopy, and å is a unit for 10^-10^ meters. Electron microscopy can be very noisy and it is hard to distinguish objects

[–] Stitch0815@feddit.org 3 points 6 months ago

Exactly this

This gets worse when talking about cryo EM

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Angstroms hurt my brain. A $10^{-10}$ of a metre, but not a nanometre or a picometre. Just...why?

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

... However, they soon realized that the definition of the metre at the time, based on a material artifact, was not accurate enough for their work. So, around 1907 they defined their own unit of length, which they called "Ångström", based on the wavelength of a specific spectral line. It was only in 1960, when the metre was redefined in the same way, that the angstrom became again equal to 10^10 metre. Wikipedia

Edit: also some atoms are about 1 angstrom in size, so it's convenient, I guess..

[–] VocationConfining@piefed.social 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Electron Microscopy. Often used to see very small structures at high resolution. So 1.2 Å is 1.2 angstrom, or 0.12 nm.

Edit: I should add that often at really high magnification, there is a lot of noise, so the joke is that non EM people would just see static. Not too far from the truth. Practice helps seeing the patterns!

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

When do the blondes, brunettes and redheads show up?

[–] pipe01@programming.dev 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That symbol means Armstrongs, but that's all I know

[–] AlolanYoda@mander.xyz 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't know if you're memeing but for anyone else, it's angstrom (Ångström originally, but the Swedish spelling is not needed or appreciated anymore >:( ), or 0.1 nm, 10^-10 m

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 7 points 6 months ago

I'm taking a moment to appreciate it right now.

[–] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

An anthropologist once told me it means Earth