Energy of atom

For the first time, scientists have accomplished a feat long thought impossible — they have measured the energy of incredibly short-lived arrangements of atoms that occur as chemical reactions are happening. This finding could help shed light on the precise inner workings of chemical reactions too complex to understand by other methods, the researchers said. Now, for the first time, scientists have measured the amount of energy required to reach a transition state.The researchers investigated a kind of chemical reaction known as an isomerization, in which a molecule undergoes a change of structure. Future research can analyze more complex reactions, such as ones where two molecules come together or one molecule breaks into two, the scientists said.