atom

What:

"On top of that, for many decades they thought that the nucleus in the center of the atom was solid but it turns out that atoms are like tiny soap bubbles made of 99.999% empty space inside the outter shell and that shell is not solid either but made of an electromagnetic field so we could "in theory", pass our hands through an atom and not touch something solid. "

A nice discussion of atoms and stuff.

Writer: Merlin

LCC:

Where:

Date: Apr 24 2014 2:59 PM

What:

"The diversity of chemical behavior results from only about 100 different elements and, thus, only 100 different kinds of atoms. In a sense, the atoms are like the 26 letters of the alphabet that join together in different combinations to form the immense number of words in our language. But how do the atoms combine with each other? What rules govern the ways in which they can combine? How do the properties of a substance relate to the kinds of atoms it contains? Indeed, what is an atom like, and what makes the atoms of one element different from those of another? "

Writer: Not Stated

LCC:

Where:

Date: Apr 24 2014 3:04 PM

What:

"A more accurate depiction of an atom, showing it is mostly empty space (grey area) traversed by rapidly moving electrons (blue dots, drawn much larger than to scale) with the heavy nucleus (red and white dot at center, drawn larger than to scale) at center. Its shape is like that of a rural community, with expanses of uninhabited land, a few scattered farm houses, and a small village with closely packed houses at its center."

See the link for a realistic description of an atom.

Writer: Matt Strassler

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Where:

Date: Jul 25 2015 3:44 PM

What: An atom is like a tiny solar system.

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "An atom is like a football.The electron in an atoms is like the skin of the football."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "An atom is like a very small, round cloud, by itself too small to see. This cloud is tough enough to join many other atoms of different round shapes to make things that we can feel - like animals, plants, rocks, air and water."

Writer: Loren Booda

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: An analogy may be helpful in understanding this abstract discussion of energy states. An atom in the ground state is like a boulder at the bottom of a hill: it's very unlikely that it's going to do anything unless something interacts very strongly with it. Stimulated absorption is like pushing that boulder up to the top of the hill. It takes energy to get it there, but it makes it more likely that the boulder will do something-most likely, roll downhill. The top of the hill is a rather precarious position, so there is a fair likelihood that the rock will roll down even if we don't push it. This is analogous to spontaneous emission.

Writer: Elson Liu

LCC:

Where:

Date: Aug 26 2013 7:19 PM

What:

"an atom hitting a moving piston is like a ping-pong ball hitting a moving paddle." The link is whole book on using analogy and metaphor in teaching science.

Writer: Not Stated

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Where:

Date: Apr 15 2017 8:15 PM