What is inside an atom? Detailed answer

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What is inside an atom? Detailed answer

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What is inside an atom?

Yes, actually, almost nothing. The basic content of the atom is emptiness.

For greater clarity, try to imagine an atom the size of an international stadium. In this case, the electrons will be located at the very top of the stands, each - smaller than a pinhead. The core will be exactly in the center of the football field, and the size of this core will not be more than a pea.

For many centuries it was believed that atoms (then still a purely theoretical concept) are the smallest units of matter; hence the very word "atom", in Greek meaning "indivisible".

However, in 1897, the electron was discovered, and in 1911, the nucleus. In 1932, they managed to split the atom - this is how the world learned about neutrons.

But this is by no means the end of the matter. The positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons in the nucleus are made up of even smaller elements. These truly tiny particles, called quarks, have been nicknamed "strangeness" and "charm" in physics and are presented not in shapes and sizes, but in "flavors".

The distant satellites of the nucleus - negatively charged electrons - are so unusual that no one calls them that anymore. Their current official title is "Probability Density Charges".

By 1950, so many subatomic particles (more than 100) had been discovered that it becomes even somehow embarrassing. Whatever matter is, no one seems to have been able to get to its essence.

Enrico Fermi, an Italian by birth who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for his work in the field of atomic reactors, literally said the following: "If I could remember the names of all these particles, I would be a botanist."

Since the time of Fermi, scientists seem to have been able to agree on the number of subatomic particles that are inside the atom - twenty-four. This maximally plausible version is known as the "standard model of the atom", giving the impression that you and I now have a pretty good idea of what is what in this world.

The universe, as far as we can imagine, is as sparsely populated as the atom. Space, on average, contains just a couple of atoms per cubic meter. Although from time to time the force of gravity brings them together, turning them into stars, planets and giraffes, which in itself is no less amazing.

Author: John Lloyd, John Mitchinson

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why do hot objects cause burns?

We have all experienced that fire and hot objects cause a painful sensation. The child does not know this - and gets burned. We are learning from our own experience.

In a hot iron, the atoms vibrate at a tremendous frequency - perhaps up to a million vibrations per second! If we touch the iron with the tip of our finger, we will feel pain, as the fast moving particles will cause our skin molecules to move sharply and quickly as well. You will feel this rapid movement as pain - that's why hot objects burn.

You can imagine how fast the molecules must move in order for the skin to get this feeling. Let's take this comparison as an example. At the melting temperature of ice, which is not hot at all, hydrogen molecules move at a speed of more than 1700 m/sec!

Test your knowledge! Did you know...

▪ What is photosynthesis and how important is it to life on Earth?

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