Friday Humor: Helping you picture the hydrogen atom
Have you ever gone to a science fair, like when you were in school, and saw one of those models of the solar system? Those are usually not to scale, because if they were, certain items like the moon and pluto would just be too small to be practical. Either that, or things like the sun would be too large to be practical... you get the idea. But, since we are always talking about hydrogen and how it's the most abundant thing on the earth, I decided to share this page with you. Make sure you read the whole column on the left and then do what he says. If you have some time, that is; it'll take a few minutes to follow his instructions. Does that image shed any light on how amazing the whole world is? Sometimes it's all just too much to grasp at once.
[Source: Phrenopolis]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
murray 1:52PM (7/13/2007)
That's pretty cool.
I've always been into science since I was a kid, and there's one question about atoms and subatomic particles that I've always wanted to know the answer to. And that is: how do we know all this stuff? Do we really know, or is it still just theory? Not only the sizes of the particles, but shapes of atoms, the way the particles in them move, all that stuff.
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pkuhl 2:14PM (7/13/2007)
"Just theory"? Scientific theory isn't something to be ignored as soon as you feel like it. Let's take the Theory of Relativity. That's the thing that helps us realize that the passage of time is different the further you get from a gravitational body. Thus we have very accurate GPS units in our cars now because we've compensated for those differences. If we said to Einstein, "hey that's just a theory so it's not true", Einstein would give us a nice long lecture on what scientific theory is and then demonstrate the tons of ways we've already made use of it. Then there's all the people doing microbial science who use Evolutionary theory every day...
There is no "just theory".
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Jeremy Korzeniewski 6:23PM (7/13/2007)
Sometimes a theory is just that...
Right now, Stephen Hawking is trying to prove that there are parallel universes, because that is the best way he can theorize what happens to energy that gets sucked into a black hole.
That is just a theory.
Jeremy
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Mathias 7:36PM (7/13/2007)
"That is just a theory."
No, that's just a hypothesis. A theory is a hypothesis that has been proven to be true, given the strong evidence at the time. So a theory is always "true", but it may be overthrown by new evidence. A hypothesis is just someones best guess and may be found wrong.
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Jeremy Korzeniewski 9:34PM (7/13/2007)
the·o·ry Pronunciation Key - [thee-uh-ree, theer-ee]
–noun, plural -ries.
1. a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena: Einstein's theory of relativity.
2. a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.
3. Mathematics. a body of principles, theorems, or the like, belonging to one subject: number theory.
4. the branch of a science or art that deals with its principles or methods, as distinguished from its practice: music theory.
5. a particular conception or view of something to be done or of the method of doing it; a system of rules or principles.
6. contemplation or speculation.
7. guess or conjecture.
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[Origin: 1590–1600; < LL theōria < Gk theōría a viewing, contemplating, equiv. to theōr(eǐn) to view + -ia -y3]
—Synonyms 1. Theory, hypothesis are used in non-technical contexts to mean an untested idea or opinion. A theory in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: the theory of relativity. A hypothesis is a conjecture put forth as a possible explanation of phenomena or relations, which serves as a basis of argument or experimentation to reach the truth: This idea is only a hypothesis.
As they say on teh internets: meh.
I guess there is a difference between a theory and a hypothesis, but it's a thin line in my opinion. Not very scientific of me, I admit!
Jeremy
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