The Quanta - Breaking Open the Atom


Einstein’s experiments with Brownian motion had proved without a doubt that atoms were real. The experimental results fit so perfectly with the predicted mathematical equations that even the biggest doubters of atomic theory were convinced. Now that scientists knew that atoms existed, they wanted to learn everything about them. One of the biggest questions was whether or not atoms where literally atoms, i.e. indivisible bits of matter, or if the atom itself was made up of different components. According to the Greeks, atoms are, by definition, as small as you can get. Modern scientists, however, began to realize that the atom could be split.

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