Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos“Amazing… If you’ve been searching for a basic text on how the atom works, this is it.” —Booklist “A masterpiece.”—Omni The legendary Isaac Asimov starts what is perhaps the most fascinating of all his books with a simple query: how finely can a piece of matter be divided? But like many simple questions, this one leads us on a far-flung quest for a final answer, a search that becomes a series of beautifully structured building blocks of knowledge. It begins with the earliest speculations and investigations by the Greeks and Romans, and then, step by step and century by century, it traces the path of discovery that revealed more and more of the nature of the atom, of light, of gravity, of the electromagnetic force—and even the nature and structure of the universe. Atom also encompasses such phenomena as light and electricity; the protons, neutrons and quarks that are the fundamental units of the universe; hard-to-observe “anti-particles”; and other strange bits of matter that challenge our assumptions about the very nature of space and time. Atom is the only book of its kind, by the renowned author whose genius for bringing clarity and excitement to complex subjects has made him the most celebrated science author of our time. |
Contents
Stable Nuclear Varieties | 136 |
CHAPTER | 146 |
BREAKDOWNS | 174 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
alpha particles American physicist antielectron antineutrino antiparticle antiproton atomic nucleus atomic number atomic weight attraction baryon baryon number beta particles bombarded break breakdown called carbon cathode rays charged particles chemical chemist cosmic rays detected discovered discovery Earth ejected elec electric charge electric current electron neutrino elements emitted energy exchange particle exist explain Fermi fission flavor fusion galaxies gamma rays gravitational graviton Greek word hadrons half-life happens helium helium-4 hydrogen atom hydrogen-2 isotope law of conservation lepton number leptons light magnetic field mass number massive matter meson metal molecules momentum move negatively charged neutron Nobel prize object orbits oxygen packing fraction periodic table pions positively charged positron produced proton quantum number quark radiation radioactive radium received a Nobel Rutherford scientists seemed shell speed spin stable isotopes stars strong interaction subatomic particles suppose tauon temperature theory thorium ticles trillion trons Universe uranium wavelengths waves weak interaction