All the… small things
Atoms and such
Brainstorm
With your group:
„
What do you know about atoms?
What is a quark?
„
Quarks are particles that make up parts of an atom
(protons, neutrons, etc.)
„ Up Quarks have a charge of + 2/3
„ Down Quarks have a charge of -1/3
neutron
proton
How big is a quark?
„
„
A quark has a diameter of about 10-15 meters
(one femtometer)
This means to get the size of a quark, you need
take 1/10 of a meter stick repeating 15 times!
What about an electron?
„
An electron is made of leptons.
„
A lepton is a particle that does not experience the strong
interaction (that is, the strong nuclear force).
„
This is why electrons “orbit” the nucleus.
„
A lepton is about 1/2000 the size of a proton.
„
What is a real life representation of that relative size?
So how big is a hydrogen atom?
„
Hydrogen- diameter of 50×10−12 m (50
picometers)
„
What is a physical representation that compares
50 picometers with a hydrogen nucleus that has
the diameter of three quarks (3 x 10-15 m)?
„
All of that extra “stuff” in an atom is empty
space!!!
How big is the biggest atom?
„
Cesium is the largest atom with a known size
260 picometers (260×10−12 m )
„
Compare that with the size of a hydrogen atom
„
How does this ratio compare with hydrogen
atom to quark ratio?
„
Your assignment
Develop visual model that:
1.
Compares a hydrogen nucleus to a hydrogen atom
2.
Compares that hydrogen atom with a grain of sand (one
mm diameter).
3.
Compares that grain of sand with a baseball (2.9 inch
diameter).
(the hydrogen nucleus should be represented with a
visible object)