Electron in a Molecule Weighed to the Tenth Decimal Place
An electron inside a molecule behaves like a tiny magnet, and its 'strength' can be measured with enormous precision. Physicists took the molecular ion HD⁺ — a nucleus made of a proton and a deuteron (heavy hydrogen), with a single electron circling around it — and placed it in a strong magnetic field of 4 teslas (roughly 80,000 times stronger than…