Atoms

BySharonFabian

Thereallystrangethingaboutatomsisthatmostofuswillneversee
one.Ever.Atomsaresosmallthatit'simpossibletoseeonewithjustour
eyes.Infact,atomsaresosmallthatit'simpossibletoseeonewithany
ordinarymicroscope.
1

Howsmallisanatom?Anatomisaboutoneonemillionththe
thicknessofahumanhair!Thetiniestspeckofdustthatyoucouldseeunderanordinary
microscopewouldstillcontainabouttenbillionatoms!

Atomsarethesmallestpossiblepartofanymaterial.Forexample,ifyoutookacopper
wireandcutitinhalf,andthenkeptcuttingitinhalfuntilyouweredowntothesmallest
possiblebitofcopper,thatwouldbeanatom.

Atomsmayseemlikesciencefiction,butthey'renot.Scientistshavefoundwaysto
studyatomsandtoprovethattheyexist.Doyoueverwonderhowscientistsstudy
somethingsosmallthatnoonecanseeit?Firstofall,thereisonewaytoseeatoms.With
averypowerfulmicroscope,calledanelectronmicroscope,scientistscanlookatatoms.
Youmayhaveseenpicturesofatomsasseenthroughanelectronmicroscope.Theatoms
thatyouseeinthistypeofpicturehavebeencoloredsothatyoucanseethem.Because
atomsaresosmall,differencesincolorcannotbedetected.Atomsareeffectively
colorless.Colorisaddedtoelectronmicroscopepicturestomaketheatomseasiertosee.

Scientistsalsousexraystostudysomeatoms.Theysometimesuseaspectrometerto
studythelightwavesthatanatomgivesoff.Thespectrometerseparatesthelightintoits
colors,andthepatternofcolorscanbeusedtohelpstudyanatom'senergylevels.The
mostamazingtoolforstudyingatomsiscalledaparticleaccelerator.Aparticleaccelerator
knownasacolliderblastsatinyparticleatthecenterofanatomwithtremendousforce.
Thiscausesothertinyparticlestoshootoffoftheatom.Bystudyingtheselittleparticles
thatpopoff,scientistsdiscoverednuclearfission.Scientistsusuallydon'texpecttoseeany
practicalusesfortheirdiscoveriesforalongtime.Butoneusewasquicklyfoundfor
nuclearfissionin1945.Nuclearfissionwasusedtomaketheatomicbombsthatwere
droppedonJapanattheendofWorldWarII.

Whenscientistsfirstdiscoveranewidea,itistestedbyotherscientists.Later,afterit
hasbeensupportedbytestsandobservationsoverandoveragain,itiscalledatheory.
Herearesomediscoveriesaboutatoms.
Atomshavetinyparticlescalledelectrons.JosephJohnThomsondiscoveredthisin
1897.
Atomshaveaheavymiddlepart,calledthenucleus.Thereareparticlesinthe

nucleuscalledprotons.ThiswasdiscoveredbyErnestRutherfordin1908.
Electronsarearrangedinlevelsaroundtheatom.NielsBohrwontheNobelPrizein
1922forthisdiscovery.
Therearealsootherparticles,calledneutrons,inthenucleus.Thiswasdiscoveredby
JamesChadwickin1932.
Thereareparticlesinthenucleusthataresmallerthanprotonsorneutrons.These
werediscoveredinthe1960sandnamedquarksbyMurrayGellMann.(Protonsand
neutronseachhavethreequarks.)In2004,DavidGross,FrankWilczik,andHugh
DavidPolitzerwereawardedtheNobelPrizefortheirworkwithquarks.

Scientistskeeplearningmoreandmoreaboutatomsallthetime.Otherparticles
havebeenidentified.Theyhavenamesthatsoundlikethey'restraightoutofscience
fictiontoosomeofthemaregluon,tau,meson,muon,pion,andneutrino.Eachnew
discoverybringsupmorenewquestions.
Copyright2015edHelper

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Date___________________

Atoms
1. Thesmallestpossiblepartofan

element,suchascopper,iscalled:
Anelectron
Anatom
Aquark
Aneutron
3. Theparticlesinthenucleusorcenter

ofanatomare:
Protonsandneutrons
Strangeandcharm
Electronsandprotons
Electronsandquarks
5. Aparticleacceleratorknownasa

collider:
Combinesatoms
Splitsatoms
Makesyourcarrunfaster
Providesthepowerforan
electronmicroscope
7. Whichofthefollowingalsoinvolves

splittingatoms?
Hittingabaseball
Measuringinmillimeters
Nuclearenergy
Splittingfirewood

2. Theparticlethatwasnamedby

MurrayGellMannis:
Anelectron
Aneutron
Anatom
Aquark
4. Whomadetheearliestdiscovery

aboutatoms?
NielsBohr
AlbertEinstein
JosephJohnThomson
MurrayGellMann
6. Theatomicbombworksby:

Splittingatoms
Combiningatoms
Measuringatoms
Countingatoms

8. Quarksare:

Fact
Fiction
Bothoftheabove
Neitheroftheabove