Never Trust an Atom, They Make up Everything
Atoms are everywhere. They make up the chair sat you are on, the paper you are reading, even the pen used to grade this paper. Atoms are the smallest part of a substance known to man. The atom is made up of a total of three particles: the proton, neutron, and electron. The protons and neutrons make up the nucleus, while the electrons fly around the nucleus in a cloud. Electrons are negative and protons are positive. In a neutral atom, there is the same amount of electrons as there are protons (Sereway, 560). Seems simple enough, right? Actually, there is much more going on in an atom than just protons and electrons.
Before being able to understand the complex atom, it is important to understand the different models of an atom. The physicist J.J. Thomson, who also discovered the electron, proposed the earliest model of the atom called “Plum Pudding Model”. This model was also called the “Chocolate Chip Cookie” and “Blueberry Muffin Model” for the reason that the model resembled these sweet snacks (Villanueva). In this model of the atom, ...
In "Energy Story" uses an explanation of atoms and tells us the parts of an atom and its structure. In the text it
Moore, M., & Weisgall, J. M. (1994, May). The Able-Baker-Where's-Charlie Follies. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 25-34.
In 1803 this theory was finalised and stated that (1) all matter is made up of the smallest possible particles termed atoms, (2) atoms of a given element have unique characteristics and weight, and (3) three types of atoms exist: simple (elements), compound (simple molecules), and complex (complex molecules).
An atom, by definition, is the smallest part of any substance. The atom has three main components that make it up: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons are within the nucleus in the center of the atom. The electrons revolve around the nucleus in many orbitals. These orbitals consist of many different shapes, including circular, spiral, and many others.
In 1939, the scientific world had discovered that Germany was building an atomic bomb. Albert Einstein had fled german prosecution earlier in his life. Upon hearing of Germany’s knowledge of splitting an uranium atom, he felt he must inform President Roosevelt about this. Roosevelt didn’t see the need in the atomic bomb but agreed to it anying. The code name for the atomic bomb was The Manhattan Project. Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago started the research for the atomic bomb. Enrico Fermi led a group of physicists to create the first controlled nuclear chain reaction underneath Stagg Field. Stagg Field was the University of Chicago’s football field. Here is where the first controlled
physics. The work of Ernest Rutherford, H. G. J. Moseley, and Niels Bohr on atomic
With America and Britain’s supplies and money quickly becoming exhausted towards the end of World War II, the war with Japan had to cease. Even though the US had significantly weakened their numbers, the US needed a strong military win to get Japan to surrender. Without the use of the atomic bomb the war between Japan and America could’ve persisted for a few more years, but with the bombing or Hiroshima and Nagasaki the war was ended swiftly and with fewer casualties than if the war had continued. For these reasons, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a military necessity and a scientific experiment.
The amazing transformation the study of physics underwent in the two decades following the turn of the 20th century is a well-known story. Physicists, on the verge of declaring the physical world “understood”, discovered that existing theories failed to describe the behavior of the atom. In a very short time, a more fundamental theory of the ...
Atoms are electrically neutral; the electrons that bear the negative charge are equal in number to the protons in the nucleus
According to Merriam-Webster, nuclear fission is defined as “the splitting of an atomic nucleus resulting in the release of large amounts of energy” (Nuclear Fission). In the book Remembering the Manhattan Project: Perspectives on the Making of the Atomic Bomb and Its Legacy, Richard Rhodes, an American journalist and historian, states that fission was essentially discovered by accident. On December 21, 1938, German physicists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, were performing an experiment in which they bombarded uranium atoms with neutrons (Rhodes 17). They saw that this procedure created mutated atoms that had strange characteristics. Hahn and Strassman found that the neutrons split the nuclei of the uranium in half producing radioactive barium and krypton (Rhodes 18). Rhodes explains that the physicists observed that the reaction was extremely exothermic, producing about ten times the energy needed for the fission to occur. After publishing their findings, physicists all over the world recreated the experiment. After conducting his own fission experiment, Enrico Fermi, an Italian physicist at Colombia University, said, “A little bomb like that and it would all disappear” (qtd. Rhodes 19). Many of the world’s physicists came to the same conclusion; this reaction could be used to develop an atomic weapon. According to Rhodes, this discovery made the development of atomic weaponry seem essential to many countries because the only way to defend themselves against atomic weapons was to have similar weapons of their own.
The imminent threat of war pulled the trigger on the atomic race as it became clear that whoever could split the atom could build the atomic bomb, and whoever could build the bomb could win the war. During the mid-1900’s there were only three countries capable of splitting the atom: Germany, Japan, and the United States. The United States was able to win, but had it not have been for the sabotage of Vemork, and the saving grace of some of the greatest scientists of our time, the outcome of WW2 could have been drastically different.
atom doesn’t exist because you can’t see one. We who have a grasp of our
The theory of quantum mechanics has divided the atom into a number of fundamental sub-atomic particles. Although the physicist has shown that the atom is not a solid indivisible object, he has not been able to find a particle which does possess those qualities. Talk of particles, though, is misleading because the word suggests a material object. This is not the intention for the use of the word in quantum physics. Quantum particles are, instead, representations of the actions and reactions of forces at the sub-atomic level. In fact, physicists are less concerned with the search for a material particle underlying all physical objects and more interested in explaining how nature works. Quantum theory is the means that enables the physicist to express those explanations in a scientific way.
Science is about understanding and building knowledge about how the natural world works. It explains the inter-relationship with one's life and nature and promotes environmental education and more so environmental habits. Science teaches us as learners’ important skills such as reasoning, problem solving, analyzing, predicting, etc. It builds a foundation by providing a base in case a child does not go to higher level of education. Since science is all around us it is important to teach it so that the children could learn about themselves and their environment. Science also provides the knowledge needed to create new pieces of technology, which scientists used to develop civilization. For example, rather than writing
Scientists from earlier times helped influence the discoveries that lead to the development of atomic energy. In the late 1800’s, Dalton created the Atomic Theory which explains atoms, elements and compounds (Henderson 1). This was important to the study of and understanding of atoms to future scientists. The Atomic Theory was a list of scientific laws regarding atoms and their potential abilities. Roentagen, used Dalton’s findings and discovered x-rays which could pass through solid objects (Henderson 1). Although he did not discover radiation from the x-rays, he did help lay the foundations for electromagnetic waves. Shortly after Roentagen’s findings, J.J. Thompson discovered the electron which was responsible for defining the atom’s characteristics (Henderson 2). The electron helped scientists uncover why an atom responds to reactions the way it does and how it received its “personality”. Dalton’s, Roentagen’s and Thompson’s findings helped guide other scientists to discovering the uses of atomic energy and reactions. Such applications were discovered in the early 1900’s by using Einstein’s equation, which stated that if a chain reaction occurred, cheap, reliable energy could b...