Atom Properties

[herme3]

I know this is impossible, but if there was a way to shrink really small, what would happen if you touched an atom? Would it be like a solid metal, or would it be more like electricity? I know the electrons would be like electricity, but what about the nucleus? Also, if you shrank to a size where atoms are the size of basketballs, would you be able to pick up an atom? If you dropped an atom on a solid surface, would it bounce? What would the other properties of the atom be? How would it look and feel like? Would it have any type of smell?

[elfstone]

You realize that smells and surfaces are made of atoms? I'm sorry but your post makes me think you're 12 years old. At least one fascinated by physics

[swansont]

Once you were on the scale where the charge screening did not cancel out, you'd be repelled by the electrostatic force of the electrons. The same reason we don't fall through the floor.

 

Feel, smell and color, etc. are macroscopic properties, as has already been alluded to. I don't how to interpret the concept of touching an atom as being "like electricity." That's ill-defined.

[herme3]

I'm sorry but your post makes me think you're 12 years old. At least one fascinated by physics

 

I took Advanced Physics class. I also received an award for being the "Most Dedicated Physics Student" in the entire school.

 

Once you were on the scale where the charge screening did not cancel out' date=' you'd be repelled by the electrostatic force of the electrons. The same reason we don't fall through the floor.

 

Feel, smell and color, etc. are macroscopic properties, as has already been alluded to. I don't how to interpret the concept of touching an atom as being "like electricity." That's ill-defined.[/quote']

 

Ok, let's say that instead of me shrinking, I manage to make an atom grow to the size of a basketball. Since an atom is matter, wouldn't we be able to observe its properties if it was that size? What would be the properties of the atom, and each subatomic particle?

[DQW]

If you change the atom to make it something it is not, how do you expect it to retain its original properties ?

[herme3]

If you change the atom to make it something it is not, how do you expect it to retain its original properties ?

 

You aren't changing the atom. You are just making it larger so people can study it.

[Daecon]

Okay, for the sake of argument let's say you had the power to send your mind into the realm of the sub-atomic, what would "an atom" be like?

 

A few sticky blobs (not that you'd be able to touch them), the size of bastketballs would be floating in mid-air, stuck together - it would feel like being in the presence of a really REALLY powerful super-magnet. A few miles away, there would be a kind of static-electricity ripple, almost a cross between a force-field and a cloud, this is where the electrons orbit, the magnetic force would be just as powerful here, but with the opposite polarity.

 

I imagine that is that an atom would be like, if you could percive it...

 

As for smell, I wonder what ozone would smell like? That kind of charged fizzy smell...

[swansont]

You aren't changing the atom. You are just making it larger so people can study it.

 

That changes it. Part of the difficulty of seeing an atom is the uncertainty from the extent of the wavelength of light needed, along with the QM nature of the electron oribitals.

 

Atoms are several-to-many nm across. Visible light is between ~400 and ~700 nm in wavelength. You can't image any details about the atom by the light it gives off.

[DQW]

There are two books I'd recommend for the OP :

 

1. Alice in Quantumland, by Gilmore : read excerpt here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0387914951/ref=sib_rdr_ex/002-0451815-3564041?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00H&j=0#reader-page

 

2. Mr Tompkins in Paperback, by Gamow : read blurb here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0521447712/ref=sib_rdr_bc/002-0451815-3564041?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S05U&j=0#reader-page