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THE GREATEST KNIGHT (atomic physics for kids) bbyy A Allaann JJaayy W Weessccooaatt THE GREATEST KNIGHT (atomic physics for kids) © 2013 by Alan Jay Wescoat. All rights reserved.* a ☮T publication Michigan Hillbilly Press, Earth *Digital copies of this book are provided on a pay-by-donation basis. Donations can be made at http://altracts.org. Rich people, please donate generously. If you are living near or below your country’s poverty level, please enjoy a digital copy of this book compliments of the author, and feel free to print a complimentary hard copy for personal use. THE GREATEST KNIGHT Once upon a time, in the magical land of Avalon, so far back that nobody living can remember, there lived a magnificent knight, the most famous knight of all. You might think that such a knight became famous for being a great warrior, for leading soldiers into battle, or for rescuing damsels in distress. That is what you might think. But this knight was famous for none of those things. Instead, he discoveries. Saint George and the Dragon by Raphael, 1506, National Gallery of Art;, Washington, D.C. image source: Wikimedia Commons 1 He slew no dragons. was famous for his atomic physics for kids His name was Sir Isaac Newton. He was a great scientist. He discovered important facts about natural philosophy. These days, what Sir Isaac Newton discovered is called physics. He discovered something about energy. Any kind of energy can be changed into any other kind of energy. Heat can become motion. Electricity can become light. Energy is energy. It is all basically the same. Sir Newton discovered a lot of other neat things, too, but this one special discovery about energy is very important for the things that we will discover together in this book. Portrait of Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1689. image source: Wikimedia Commons 2 THE GREATEST KNIGHT Many years later, in the magical land of Denmark, there lived a great doctor. He was not a medical doctor. He was a doctor of natural philosophy, a physicist. His name was Niels Bohr (“kneels bore”). He is most famous for inventing a model. It was not a model car or airplane or train or battleship. It was not even a model of a giant robot. It was a model of very tiny things that make up most of the matter in our universe, atoms. Doctor Bohr designed a model of atoms that was easy to understand. Because of the great Doctor Bohr, something very difficult became a lot easier to understand. In fact, doctor Bohr’s Niels Bohr image source: Wikimedia Commons model of atoms is so simple that even little kids can understand the basics. 3 atomic physics for kids From the magical land of Germany came another great scientist named Max. He was not known for wearing a wolf suit like another Max you might know, but like that Max, Doctor Max Planck discovered something wonderful! He discovered that there is a smallest amount of energy, the quanta. He also discovered that all energy is an exact multiple of the quanta. Because of Doctor Planck’s discoveries, a whole new branch of physics grew from the tree of philosophy, quantum physics. Max Planck in 1918, the year he won the Nobel Prize in Physics image source: Wikimedia Commons 4 THE GREATEST KNIGHT There also came a giant, a German Jewish giant named Albert Einstein. Einstein figured out that matter can become energy and energy can become matter. Matter just is a form of energy. smart. Albert Einstein, 1921 image source: Wikimedia Commons 5 He was really super atomic physics for kids If we put together the ideas of these four geniuses, we can discover something important about matter. Newton: All energy is the same. Bohr: A good model helps with understanding. Planck: There is a basic unit of energy. Einstein: Matter is energy. We should be able to design a good model of matter using only basic units of energy that are all the same. 6 THE GREATEST KNIGHT We will take a quick look at a very simple version of Doctor Bohr’s model to see what was good about it. Most of the matter in the universe is made up of very tiny things called atoms. Atoms are made of particles. There are three basic particles: neutrons, protons, and electrons. neutron (green), proton (blue), electron (red) The inside of an atom is its nucleus. The protons and neutrons hang out in the nucleus. The electrons circle around the nucleus. Neutrons and protons each have about the same amount of matter in them, so they are shown as balls of the same size. Electrons have a whole lot less matter in them than neutrons and protons, so they are shown as much smaller balls. Protons and electrons always come in pairs. An atom with three protons has three electrons. An atom with ten protons a simple hydrogen atom made of one proton and one electron has ten electrons. 7 atomic physics for kids There are different kinds of atoms called element s. The number of protons in an atom’s nucleus is its atomic number. The atomic number tells us which element the atom is. Hydrogen is the first element. It has an atomic number of 1. The second element is helium. It has an atomic number of 2. A periodic table of the elements shows elements by atomic number. helium‐3 and helium‐4 hydrogen‐2 and hydrogen‐3 8 THE GREATEST KNIGHT Harrison Spiral Periodic Table of the Elements image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File: Harrison_Spiral_Periodic_Table.svg 9 atomic physics for kids Atoms of an element are not all the same. Most hydrogen is just one proton and one electron, but some hydrogen also has one neutron in its nucleus. An even more rare kind of hydrogen has two neutrons in its nucleus. These three different kinds of hydrogen are isotope s of hydrogen. three isotopes of hydrogen: hydrogen‐1 (protium), hydrogen‐2 (deuterium), and hydrogen‐3 (tritium) Naming these isotopes is easy. Just add the number of protons to the number of neutrons. Then add the number to the name. All hydrogen has just one proton. Hydrogen with no neutrons is hydrogen-1 (1H). Hydrogen with one neutron is hydrogen-2 (2H). Hydrogen with two neutrons is hydrogen-3 (3H). These used to be called “protium”, “deuterium”, and “tritium”, but the numbering system is easier to work with. 10 THE GREATEST KNIGHT The next element is helium. There is no helium-2 because two protons and two electrons just make two atoms of hydrogen-1. With a neutron to hold the nucleus together, helium-3 is stable. So is helium-4. With no neutron to hold the protons together, what would be an atom of helium‐2 is just two atoms of hydrogen‐1. two stable isotopes of helium: helium‐3 and helium‐4 That is just a quick look at a very basic version of the Bohr model. There is a whole lot more to it. 11 atomic physics for kids For as good as Doctor Bohr’s model of atoms is, it has some problems. Scientists use models to predict what will happen. There are things that happen in the real world that the Bohr model cannot predict. The Bohr model also predicts things that do not happen. Also, the Bohr model does not explain how energy forms into three completely different particles. Basic science classes still use a very simple version of the Bohr model because it is easy to teach and easy to understand, but advanced science needs a better model. We will look at a new model of atoms. Our new model describes protons, electrons, and neutrons using only one particle. We will start with a basic unit of energy. 12 THE GREATEST KNIGHT In this model, the basic unit of energy is a maxwell. Maxwells move up and down like ocean waves. Maxwells can link together intochain s. Zero (0) maxwells One (1) maxwell Two (2) maxwells Three (3) maxwells Four (4) maxwells Five (5) maxwells Six (6) maxwells Seven (7) maxwells Eight (8) maxwells Nine (9) maxwells Ten (10) maxwells 13 atomic physics for kids Have you ever looked closely at a baseball? The cover is made of two pieces of white material. The edges of the white material are sewn together with red thread. If you follow the line of stitches, you will go around and around the ball. The shape of the ball is held together by just one line of stitches. If we have enough maxwells in a chain, we can curve them into a ball, just like the stitching on a baseball. There is a magic number of maxwells that can make a chain that will bend just right to form matter. The magic A regulation baseball has 216 stitches. The magic number is 216 x 8000. number is one million seven hundred twenty-eight thousand (1,728,000). 14 THE GREATEST KNIGHT The magic number may seem like a very big number, but a lot of new cars cost more pennies than that. 1,728,000 is the number of seconds in twenty days. If you have just ten different cards, the number of different orders they could be in is more than twice as Ten different cards could be in as many as 3,628,800 different orders. This is calculated with a factorial. Ten factorial is written as 10! (10! = 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 3,628,800). 15 big as the magic number. atomic physics for kids Lines show length. A rolled-up sheet of paper is like a line. If you unroll it, it covers an area. This is a lot like multiplying. The area is the length times how far you unroll the paper. Unrolling the paper multiplies its line. 16 THE GREATEST KNIGHT If we multiply a length by another length, we get an area. If you make a rectangle that is two meters on one side and three meters on another side, the area is six square meters because 2 meters x 3 meters = 6 square meters (6 meters2). 10 cm 10 cm An area multiplied by a length gives us volume. If you make a cube that is ten centimeters on each side, the volume is one liter. 10 cm Lines show us length. Squares and rectangles show us area. Cubes and boxes show us volume. 17 atomic physics for kids When a number is multiplied times itself, we say that the number is squared. Two times two is two squared. We have a special way of showing this with numbers. Two squared is shown as 22. Three times three is three squared. Three squared is shown as 32. The small raised number is an exponent. The exponent tells us how many times to multiply a number with itself. 12 = 1 x 1 = 1 22 = 2 x 2 = 4 32 = 3 x 3 = 9 42 = 4 x 4 = 16 If the exponent is 3, then the number is cubed. Two cubed is 2 x 2 x 2. We can show two cubed as 23. Three cubed is 3 x 3 x 3. We can show three cubed as 33. Another way to show the magic number is as 1203 (“one hundred twenty cubed”). 1203 = 120 x 120 x 120 = 1,728,000. 18 THE GREATEST KNIGHT Here is another way to understand the magic number. If you have a small cube that is just twelve centimeters on each side, its volume is exactly 1,728,000 cubic millimeters (1,728,000 mm3). Interesting facts: There are fifty-four (54) cards in a standard deck of playing cards (including the jokers). Two times fifty-four is one hundred eight (2 x 54 = 108), the same number of beads in a full rosary and worries in Buddhism. Two times one hundred eight is two hundred sixteen (2 x 108 = 216), the number of different combinations on three six-sided dice and also the number of proper standard playing cards designed with consideration for everyone rather than only for right‐handed people stitches on a regulation baseball. 19 atomic physics for kids 216 x 8,000 is the magic number (216 x 8,000 = 1,728,000). It is exactly eight thousand times as big as the number of stitches on a regulation baseball. You can just imagine that the stitches on a baseball are a chain of maxwells where each stitch is eight thousand maxwells. Another fun thing you can do is imagine that you need to roll dice to get any number from 1 to 1,728,000. You can do it with just six dice, three six-sided dice and three twenty-sided dice. You can also do it with three twelve-sided dice and three ten-sided dice. 20 THE GREATEST KNIGHT Here is something really interesting about the magic number: 120 = 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5, so 1203 = (1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5)3, and 1203 = 13 x 23 x 33 x 43 x 53. With so many ways to understand the magic number, it should be really easy to remember. 1203 = 13 x 23 x 33 x 43 x 53 21 atomic physics for kids Matter is structured energy. The magic number is exactly enough maxwells to wrap into a perfectly balanced ball. The first Maxwell of the chain links to the last Maxwell of the chain. Presto! We have matter. This is an einstein, the only particle in our model. We will use einsteins to build up neutrons and protons and to make electrons. Neutrons and protons are not particles in this model. They are structure s of einsteins. Electrons are not even structures. They are just groups of einsteins that hang out with protons. 22 an einstein THE GREATEST KNIGHT Einsteins can snap together at eight points with bond s. Einsteins bond by sharing a maxwell. One einstein is made of 1,728,000 maxwells. 3,456,000 maxwells. Two einsteins are made of If they bond, they lose one Maxwell. Two einsteins bonded together are made of 3,455,999 maxwells. This very simple kind of bond is a snap bond. The energy of a snap bond is -1 maxwell. Two einsteins sharing a snap bond Einsteins bond at up to eight points 23 atomic physics for kids The really cool thing about this model is that from here on out, we can build it up using Legos. A whole lot of magic comes out of the land of Denmark! All we need are the ones that look like cubes with four posts on top and four slots on the bottom. Each of these Legos bonds at eight points just like an einstein does. We will make believe that these Legos are einsteins. We are going to build lattices out of Legos. Lattice 0 is just one layer made of one einstein. Just one of these Legos by itself shows layer 0 and lattice 0. One einstein alone is layer 0 and lattice 0. 24 THE GREATEST KNIGHT If you snap four einsteins onto the top and four onto the bottom of lattice 0, you will complete layer 1. This makes lattice 1. You will need twenty-six more einsteins to do layer 2 and complete lattice 2. lattice 1 lattice 2 lattice 3 lattice 4 Special thanks to Alexis Justine Wescoat for the use of her Legos to build these models. The formula for finding the number of einsteins in a lattice is easy. i is the lattice number. The number of einsteins in a lattice is i 3 + (i + 1)3. Lattice 0 has one einstein in it because 03 + (0 + 1)3 = 03 + 13 = 0 + 1 = 1. Lattice 1 has nine einsteins because 13 + (1 + 1)3 = 13 + 23 = 1 + 8 = 9. The formula for finding the number of snap bonds in a lattice is (2 x i )3. 25 atomic physics for kids The first big goal is lattice 8. Before you get too excited, you need to know that you will thousand two hundred need one forty-one (1,241) einsteins to build lattice 8. Are you ready? Get set. Go! Was that fun? With lattice 8, we can make neutrons. lattice 8 26 the building block for