Books etc

What is an elementary particle?

Particles work more or less like matryoshka dolls, the wooden dolls that can be opened and contain smaller and smaller dolls inside. The smallest one is a whole piece, not openable like an elementary particle, also called a fundamental particle. In Book 8, Millie tries to break an electron,...…
in questions
What is an elementary particle?

Elementary particles

Around 2,500 years ago, the Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus suggested that matter (= everything that has weight and takes up space) is made up of extremely small building blocks surrounded by empty space. These fundamental elements, which contained no smaller components withi...…
in history
Elementary particles

Discovery of the electron

In the article on elementary particles, we read that, in 1804, John Dalton demonstrated the existence of atoms, which he imagined as hard spheres. More than 90 years later, in 1897, the experiments of Joseph John Thomson, a British physicist, showed that atoms contain electrons, tiny particles...…
in history
Discovery of the electron

Empty space in atoms

In the article about the discovery of the electron, we read that the atom is more empty than full. The nucleus is ten thousand times smaller than the atom, and the electrons are very far apart. This is why, when Millie first arrives in the world of particles (book number 1), she feels complete...…
in quantum concepts
Empty space in atoms