Scientists in the UK have unveiled the world's smallest Christmas card.
Produced by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at Bushy Park in London, the tiny Christmas card measures just 15x20 micrometres - thinner than a human hair.
The card is so small it requires a powerful microscope just to be seen, never mind reading the festive inscription inside...
Take a look at world's smallest Christmas card
Scientists say 200 million of the cards, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, could fit inside a single postage stamp.
Monday 18 December 2017
Sky News
We wish you a micro Christmas: The card measures just 15x20µm. Pic: NPL
Scientists in the UK have unveiled the world's smallest Christmas card.
Produced by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at Bushy Park in London, the tiny Christmas card measures just 15x20 micrometres - thinner than a human hair.
The card is so small it requires a powerful microscope just to be seen, never mind reading the festive inscription inside.
It is made from platinum-coated silicon nitride, a common material in electronics, and is over 10x smaller than the previous record-holding smallest Christmas card, which measured 200x290 micrometres.
Video: How small is the world's smallest Christmas card?
The design and message on the card were carved using a focused ion beam - "a jet of charged particles", according to NPL.
A micrometre is one millionth of a metre (0.000001m) and is displayed with the symbol µm.
More than 200 million of the minuscule cards could be fit inside a single postage stamp, NPL said.
NPL ✔
@NPL
This is the world’s smallest #Christmas card, made here at NPL. You could fit more than 200 million on a single postage stamp!
10:05 AM - Dec 18, 2017
9 Replies 64 Retweets 71 Likes
In a cubic metre, similar to the size of a post box, you could fit 7 quadrillion (7,000,000,000,000,000) of these cards - roughly 900,000 for every person on Earth
Dr David Cox, research fellow at NPL, who created the card with his colleague Dr Ken Mingard, said: "While the card is a fun way to mark the festive season, it also showcases the progress being made in materials research on this scale.
"We are using the tools that created the card to accurately measure the thickness of extremely small features in materials, helping to unlock new battery and semiconductor technologies.
"It's a genuinely exciting development that could help to make new technologies and techniques a reality."
https://news.sky.com/story/uk-lab-produces-worlds-smallest-christmas-card-11176302
Produced by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at Bushy Park in London, the tiny Christmas card measures just 15x20 micrometres - thinner than a human hair.
The card is so small it requires a powerful microscope just to be seen, never mind reading the festive inscription inside...
Take a look at world's smallest Christmas card
Scientists say 200 million of the cards, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, could fit inside a single postage stamp.
Monday 18 December 2017
Sky News
We wish you a micro Christmas: The card measures just 15x20µm. Pic: NPL
Scientists in the UK have unveiled the world's smallest Christmas card.
Produced by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at Bushy Park in London, the tiny Christmas card measures just 15x20 micrometres - thinner than a human hair.
The card is so small it requires a powerful microscope just to be seen, never mind reading the festive inscription inside.
It is made from platinum-coated silicon nitride, a common material in electronics, and is over 10x smaller than the previous record-holding smallest Christmas card, which measured 200x290 micrometres.
The design and message on the card were carved using a focused ion beam - "a jet of charged particles", according to NPL.
A micrometre is one millionth of a metre (0.000001m) and is displayed with the symbol µm.
More than 200 million of the minuscule cards could be fit inside a single postage stamp, NPL said.
NPL ✔@NPL
This is the world’s smallest #Christmas card, made here at NPL. You could fit more than 200 million on a single postage stamp!
10:05 AM - Dec 18, 2017
9 Replies 64 Retweets 71 Likes
In a cubic metre, similar to the size of a post box, you could fit 7 quadrillion (7,000,000,000,000,000) of these cards - roughly 900,000 for every person on Earth
Dr David Cox, research fellow at NPL, who created the card with his colleague Dr Ken Mingard, said: "While the card is a fun way to mark the festive season, it also showcases the progress being made in materials research on this scale.
"We are using the tools that created the card to accurately measure the thickness of extremely small features in materials, helping to unlock new battery and semiconductor technologies.
"It's a genuinely exciting development that could help to make new technologies and techniques a reality."
https://news.sky.com/story/uk-lab-produces-worlds-smallest-christmas-card-11176302
