Have yourself a microscopic Christmas: The world's smallest snowman at just 0.01mm wide



For most children the challenge is trying to build the biggest snowman.

Scientists, however, enjoy taking on altogether trickier tasks.

They have built the world's smallest snowman, measuring just 0.01mm across - one fifth of the width of the average human hair.

The world's smallest snowman is just one fifth of the width of a strand of hair and is made of two tiny tin beads

A focused ion beam was used to carve the snowman's eyes and smile, and to deposit platinum for the nose

While the creation, once magnified in a blue light, looks like the product of a child's imagination, it was put together using hi-tech gadgetry.

Made of two tiny tin beads usually used to calibrate electron microscope lenses, the snowman was built by the National Physical Laboratory.



It was assembled using tools designed to manipulate nano-particles, and welded together with tiny deposits of platinum.

A focused ion beam was used to carve the eyes and smile, and to place the platinum nose.

The snowman was created by Dr David Cox, a member of the Quantum Detection group at the laboratory.