Atoms are a major part of the Earth we live on, our bodies, our stuff and all. So, atoms... what are they actually?!
Small to start with! Relative to our body they are extremely small. They can't be seen with the naked eye, not even with a pretty good microscope. But they're not the smallest things out there. Atoms are huge compared to smaller shapes. But who cares about size; the shape and the amount of complexity is more interesting. And the most important to remember: an atom = energy in space.
Although atoms aren't the smallest shapes, they are pretty small and smaller often goes together with a lower complexity. There are different kinds of atoms but the variety isn't endless at all. The periodic table tells me there's only about 102 different kinds of atoms. Atoms are pretty simple combinations of just a few primary basic elements. Atoms can't be any combination though; it has to be a stable combination, otherwise it won't last as long as atoms do. There has to be a balance or harmony in the atom's structure.
Chemical reaction
A molecule is a stable combination of two or more atoms. The atoms then share a part of their electric-structure, and by doing so they together contain less energy than when seperated. It can go two ways; by adding energy, molecules can be separated into individual atoms again or become other molecules.
A process that creates new molecules is known as a "chemical reaction". Not any imaginable combination of atoms is possible, but the amount of unique combinations of atoms is far greater than the number of unique atoms.
A chemical reaction will release or consume energy, or in some cases stay the same. A combination of atoms can be with the same kind or a mixture of different kinds. Because atoms and molecules are relatively stable, most need a push of energy to change their electric-structure. Some atoms "want to be together" so much that bringing them closely is enough to start the process.
A nice example is of Oxygen (O) and Hydrogen (H) atoms.
O = energy
H = energy
O and H can be by them themselves, but both are more stable as a pair: O2 and H2
Now, being molecules, they contain less energy.
O + O + H + H = O2 + H2 + energy
On molecule of water is "H2O" meaning that one molecule of water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. H2O contains even less energy.
O2 + H2 + H2 = H2O + H2O + energy
Thus; putting energie in water can split it into oxygen and hydrogen, and burning hydrogen with oxygen releases energy.
A way more powerful or efficiënt reaction between O & H is:
O + O + H + H + H + H = H2O + H2O + energy
(search for "Brown's Gas")
A conventional bomb is an example of a chemical reaction that releases a lot of energy in a short amount of time, so be extremely careful if you experiment with chemical reactions.
Actually; when atoms get together in a chemical reaction, it's like a major electrical short circuit! A violent collapse of force fields that causes an explosive radiation of energy. If your goal isn't creating heat and light and such, you can put a turbine (symbolic) in the stream of electrons, and make use of that electric power. A fuelcell works like that, producing an electrical current instead of radiation.
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Nuclear reaction
A more intense getting together of atoms is called "nuclear fusion". It takes a great push to start a nucliar reaction (splitting or fusing atoms), but then the atoms share there structure so intense that after the process they turn into different kinds of atoms, atoms of a lower energy level. Here also; the energy is released, in far more quantities than with chemical reactions. Examples of a nucliar reaction is the sun (fusion) or an atom bomb (splitting or fusion). An important fact is that after such a reaction, the mass of the new atoms are less than before the reaction.
An atom is a pretty stable shape of energy in space. Energy can be in space in three ways:
- static force field
- vibrating force field
- a progressing force field
An atom is probably a combination of these three faces of energy.
The amount of energy in an atom is enormous, and that makes the question rise: what keeps an atom together? Why doesn't is simply unwind and releases all its energy free?
