Word: monofilms
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Films & Jellies. Dr. Langmuir held the chemists spellbound when he recounted his tricks with "monofilms''-layers of matter only one molecule thick. Certain oils, fats and proteins will spread out in monofilms on water whose surface has been scraped clean. The molecules have dissimilar ends, "heads" and "tails." Some years ago Dr. Langmuir found that in a monofilm on water, the heads all pointed up, the tails down. Such films resemble crystals in that their structure and dimensions can be learned from their behavior under X-rays and polarized light...
...leaf it promptly acquired the ability to reproduce itself-a characteristic of life. The virus is a giant molecule weighing 17,000,000 times as much as a hydrogen atom. Dr. Stanley found the molecule to be spherical, with a diameter of .0000002 cm. When Dr. Langmuir made a monofilm of the virus and then transferred the film to a glass plate where its thickness could be measured, he found that the molecule had flattened out like a pancake and that the film was 15 times thinner than the spherical diameter of one molecule. "This lends support to a theory...
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