The super-sensitive listening device developed by David Klenerman and colleagues can pick out the strength of the attractive forces between atoms. Splitting strong bonds requires a lot of energy. So when destructive force is applied and increased gradually, weaker bonds pop open first. As well as throwing more light on how molecules fit together, the new technology could help sort and separate chemicals, and even detect viruses.
Chemical bonds make molecules behave differently from the network of individual atoms they contain.
The links range from the weak non-specific forces that explain why gases tend to spread out along solid surfaces to the strong 'covalent' bonds holding together brittle minerals. As the surface moves, the bonds holding the balls to the surface rupture and the spheres roll away. Coating the surface and the spheres with different chemicals creates stronger bonds, which need to be shaken harder to release the rubber balls. The system can be compared to a fleet of hot air balloons tethered to the ground by either tissue paper or ropes. Increasingly violent earth tremors will eventually break the ropes.