22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Everything is Made of Atoms
Everything is made of atoms. That is the key hypothesis. The most important hypothesis in all of biology, for example, is that everything that animals do, atoms do. In other words, there is nothing that living things do that cannot be understood from the point of view that they are made of atoms acting according to the laws of physics. This was not known from the beginning it took some experimenting and theorizing to suggest this hypothesis, but now it is accepted, and it is the most useful t... 1 
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notesTherefore all biological and chemical phenomena can be understood from this perspective of physics.
05 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Benzene and Bee Hives
People have wracked their brains for an explanation of benzene and how the celebrated man [Kekulé] managed to come up with the concept of the benzene theory. With regard to the last point especially, a friend of mine who is a farmer and has a lively interest in chemistry has asked me a question which I would like to share with you. My 'agricultural friend' apparently believes he has traced the origins of the benzene theory. 'Has Kekulé,' so ran the question, 'once been a bee-keeper? You certa... 1 notes
notesThe hexagon shape of bee hives inspires the idea of hexagon shapes for benzene rings.
07 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Molecules of Water and Air Passed Through Famous People
Take water. It's simple, common, and vital. There are more molecules of water in an eight-ounce cup of the stuff than there are cups of water in all the world's oceans. Every cup that passes through a single person and eventually rejoins the world's water supply holds enough molecules to mix fifteen hundred of them into every other cup of water in the world. No way around it: some of the water you just drank passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Genghis Khan, and Joan of Arc.
How about ai...
1 Best explanation for why the H2O in a glass of water has molecules that passed through the kidneys of historical figures (even dinosaurs).
21 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Indestructible Atoms
Chemical analysis and synthesis go no farther than to the separation of particles one from another, and to their reunion. No new creation or destruction of matter is within the reach of chemical agency. We might as well attempt to introduce a new planet into the solar system, or to annihilate one already in existence, as to create or destroy a particle of hydrogen. 1 notes
notesTo destroy an atom of Hydrogen would be like trying to introduce a new planet to the solar system.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Explanation of Isotopes
The number of neutrons in an atom's nucleus is less fixed than the number of protons: many elements have different versions, called isotopes, with different numbers of neutrons. For example, there are three isotopes of carbon, called Carbon-12, Carbon-13 and Carbon-14. The numbers refer to the mass of the atom, which is the sum of the protons and neutrons. Each of the three has six protons. Carbon-12 has six neutrons. Carbon-13 has seven neutrons and Carbon-14 has eight neutrons. Some isotope... 1 notes
notesThe different types of carbon have different numbers of neutrons and therefore different masses.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Death is Nothing to Us
Equally vain is the suggestion that the spirit is immortal because it is shielded by life-preserving powers: or because it is unassailed by forces hostile to its survival; or because such forces, if they threaten, are somehow repelled before we are conscious of the threat. <Common sense makes it obvious that this cannot be the case:> apart from the spirit's participation in the ailments of the body, it has maladies enough of its own. [80] The prospect of the future torments it with f... 1 notes
notesA state of non-being, we won't care about it because we won't be there to care.
13 APR 2011 by ideonexus
A World made by Atomes.
SMall Atomes of themselves a World may make,As being subtle, and of every shape:And as they dance about, fit places finde,Such Formes as best agree, make every kinde.For when we build a house of Bricke, and Stone, [5]We lay them even, every one by one:And when we finde a gap that's big, or small,We seeke out Stones, to fit that place withall.For when not fit, too big, or little be,They fall away, and cannot stay we see. [10]So Atomes, as they dance, finde places fit,They there remaine, lye cl... 1 notes
notesMargaret Cavendish's 1653 poem on the nature of atoms,
