- #1
SaulC
- 5
- 0
This might seem to be a silly question to some. Please understand I'm no physicist.
I've been watching a series on electromagnetism, energy, matter in general, for the general public. Nowhere can I find an answer to this simple question: if atoms and everything inside of them are smaller than the smallest light waves we can see, if no one has ever seen an atom, if the Atomic Theory is merely a (pretty good) description of how matter behaves, if the familiar image of electrons spinning around a nucleus is a useful model rather than the thing itself, how on Earth is it possible to place a single particle inside a particle accelerator, make it go several times around the block and see what happens when it collides with another, precisely placed, particle? How can you pick up, handle, place & accelerate an atom? Or a subatomic particle?
Thanks.
I've been watching a series on electromagnetism, energy, matter in general, for the general public. Nowhere can I find an answer to this simple question: if atoms and everything inside of them are smaller than the smallest light waves we can see, if no one has ever seen an atom, if the Atomic Theory is merely a (pretty good) description of how matter behaves, if the familiar image of electrons spinning around a nucleus is a useful model rather than the thing itself, how on Earth is it possible to place a single particle inside a particle accelerator, make it go several times around the block and see what happens when it collides with another, precisely placed, particle? How can you pick up, handle, place & accelerate an atom? Or a subatomic particle?
Thanks.