来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：新生有机化学 第4集 第4集》

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  to less than one molecule change in height;
  小于单个分子的高度变化也能检测到
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  although it doesn't feel an individual molecule because the tip,
  虽然它并不检测单个分子
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  remember is twenty nanometers wide.
  因为这顶端有20纳米宽
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  So the width of the tip is like 100 or so atoms. Right?
  那相当于100多个原子的尺寸
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  So it's touching a bunch of atoms at any one time.
  因此它在任一时刻接触到的是一群原子
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  But if you come to a ledge, unlike a crystal ,
  但如果检测的是表面的凸起 不像晶体
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  it would be going at a certain height, touching a bunch,
  探针会移动到一特定高度与一群原子接触
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  and then it would move up and touch a bunch more,
  随后向上移与另一群原子接触
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  and you'd be able to tell if it went up and down,
  你能够辨别它是否上下移动
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  if that distance was only one molecule; easy.
  只要那距离在单个分子尺寸就很容易辨别
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  Here's, in fact, a picture taken by an undergraduate.
  这是一张由本科生完成的图像
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  In fact, it's a movie. So it's AFM traces.
  实际上是一部AFM跟踪记录的影像