When someone references "the world's smallest violin," they mean that their sympathy for you is minuscule and they really don't care. The earliest pop culture reference was in a 1978 episode of M*A*S*H, when Margaret Houlihan rubs her thumb and finger together and says, “It’s the world’s smallest violin, and it’s playing just for you.” However, the joke could be much older.
But now scientists at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England, have broken the record for making a violin very small. They covered a chip in two layers of a gel substance, then used thermal scanning probe lithography to etch a violin on it. A layer of platinum was applied, then the underlying material was removed. The result is a platinum violin that is 13 microns wide and 35 microns long, smaller than the finest human hair.
The violin is just an image, and is not playable. If it were, you wouldn't be able to hear it. But it's terribly tiny. -via Slashdot
(Image credit: Loughborough University)
Comments (0)
Commenting on Neatorama will earn you NeatoPoints!