How to Weigh Things by Looking at Them

The development and use of scales was critical to trade, the creation of money and thus the evolution of human society. Weight and mass are used somewhat interchangeably for day-to-day objects, but need to be differentiated as objects become smaller and smaller. Once we reach scales much smaller than the width of human hair, gravity is no longer the dominant force experienced by objects and can thus not be used to quantify objects by ‘weighing’ them. Instead, we need to measure their mass, which corresponds to the amount of matter in an object. Due to the difficulty of operating on the microscopic scale, only a very small number of methods have been developed to measure mass on small scales over the past century. I will describe the development of mass photometry – a method that measures the mass of biomolecules and tiny particles, such as viruses, by shining light at them, effectively ‘looking at them’. I will explain the principles of operation, and show how this technique is being used broadly in academia and industry to understand the basis of disease, and aid in the development of next generation therapeutics.

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This winter, we will host our public physics talks in Flug Forum at Aspen Center for Physics. Join us starting at 5:00pm for tea and cookies before each talk. The talks will begin at 5:30pm sharp. There is free parking at the Center and in the neighborhood. We also recommend taking the Downtowner or the free RFTA Crosstown Shuttle.

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