Atoms. They're in your town. They're in your home. They're in your body. They make up everything you touch. They can't be seen, yet they control everything that happens. They're linked together in a society that remained a secret from us for thousands of years. What do we really know about them?

Well, don't call 60 Minutes quite yet. We actually know quite a bit about atoms. And a small fraction of what we know is presented here in this website. So dive right in, and soon you'll be impressing your friends with new words and phrases like "quantization," "quark," "wave-particle duality," and "quorbit." And you may actually learn something, too.

The pages in "The Atom" are best taken in order:

What's in an Atom
What Holds an Atom Together
The Obvious Model
Quantum Physics (or, Why the Obvious Model is Wrong)
The Particle in a Box
What Electrons Do in an Atom
How Atoms Hold Together

Some other web pages on the atom:

• The Information Please encyclopedia entry on the atom.
• Size of Atoms and Nuclei Index Page: A size by size guide to the things that make up the universe.
• Atom Builder: An intro to the atom for the younger crowd. I haven't actually tried the "Atom Builder" activity, but it looks like fun.
• This page about atoms is written by high school students, I think. But it's pretty accurate and has a nice look to it.

If you know of any other pages on the atom that I might want to link to, please

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Comments or questions about The Atom? Send them to

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If you've enjoyed The Atom, why not try Dave's other educational web pages?

The Page of Entropy
Dave's Relativity Page
The Page of Uncertainty
Dave's Microcosmos

A brief note about Dave's educational web pages.

"The Atom" is presented with the assistance of Saginaw Valley State University. It was posted to the web in 1999.