Usually, chemical reactions just take their course, much like a ball
rolling downhill.
However, it is also possible to deliberately control
chemical reactions: at the Vienna University of Technology, molecules
are hit with femtosecond laser pulses, changing the distribution of
electrons in the molecule.
This interaction is so short that at first
it does not have any discernable influence on the atomic nuclei, which
have much more mass than the electrons. However, the disturbance of the
electron distribution can still initiate chemical processes and
eventually separate the nuclei from each other.
The properties of the
laser pulse determine which chemical final products are created.
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| Short laser pulses interacting with ethylene |
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