It is impossible to resolve structures finer than that. The resolution that one can achieve with light is limited by its wavelength. The photons are then caught on a screen, or a film, and give you a picture. These photons are either reflected on, or transverse a sample. Roughly spoken, a microscope uses photons that are focused with lenses. The invention of magnifying glasses, and the light microscope was the first step. And even the protons and neutrons aren't fundamental particles. Today we know that what was later termed 'atom' isn't uncuttable at all, but actually mostly empty, the rest being a small core of protons and neutrons, orbited by electrons. Democritus, sometime around 500 BCE 1 was the first to theorize that there is a fundamental indivisible entity which he called átomos - the 'uncuttable'. The search for the building constituents of our world has come a long way. For a long time in the history of science, progress in physics has been accompanied by an increase of resolution - a fascinating journey in negative powers of ten. The amount of structures, shapes and colors is just fascinating if you consider that everything is build up from only some few ingredients that we call the particles of the standard model. One of the most amazing things about nature is its diversity.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |