Sunday, January 30, 2011

Atomism

As a chemist by trade one of the things that Dr. Layne had mentioned in lecture were the Atomists and that made me perk up a little bit in class .

She mentioned how they believed all things came from atoms and I think to myself, "yes! Finally away from all that water and air stuff!" Now we're on to something that I can agree to, atoms composing everything in the natural world. Now it is known that there are numerous subatomic particles that even make up atoms, but for the ancient world this is still a pretty cool notion.

When I first cam across this thought of everything being made up of atoms as a kid I then wondered, "If all things are atoms, then there are tiny tiny gaps between all the atoms. If all things have all these gaps because they are made of atoms if I were to sit in a chair over and over and over again and aligned everything just right, would all the 'atom gaps' line up and I could then pass through the chair?" Silly yes, but I still wondered and pondered until I later learned about all the electrostatic interactions that occur both intermolecularly and intramolecularly. It made sense to me and really it was this question that got me interested in the sciences.

Since atoms are made up of neutrons, electrons, protons, etc. are there neutronists and electronists much like there are atomists? Or are they encompassed by the atomists? Or are they known as today's chemists and physicists?

I may be interested in the atomists the most because I think I would like to owe it to them in a round about sort of way for my love of the sciences.

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