From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Image:Ahmed zewail.jpg
Femtochemistry is the
science that studies
chemical reactions on
extremely short timescales,
approximately
10–15 seconds (this
is one
femtosecond, hence the name).
In
1999,
Ahmed H. Zewail received the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for
his pioneering work in this field.
Zewail’s technique uses flashes
of laser light that last for a few
femtoseconds. One femtosecond
equals one millionth of one
billionth of a second
(0.000000000000001 second).
Femtochemisty is the area of
physical chemistry that addresses
the short time period in which
chemical reactions take place and
investigates why some reactions
occur but not others. Zewail’s
picture-taking technique made
possible these investigations. One
of the first major discoveries of
femtochemistry was that
intermediate products that form
during chemical reactions differ
from the starting and end
products. By understanding these
molecular dynamics, chemists one
day may be able to better control
chemical reactions and create new
molecules.
