Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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
Name_____________________________
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