a tiny particle of this powder and crush it. Again we would
have still smaller particles, but they would still be salt. However,
by continuing the breaking up of salt particles we come to
a point where something very peculiar happens. At a certain
stage of this breaking up process we do not have salt any more.
Our tiny particle of salt has been divided into two different
substances and these are “atoms.” In the case of salte, the
“atoms” or “atomic substances” are chlorine and sodium.
There is a name given to the smallest particle in which the
atoms are still combined--the “molecule”--which is in other
words, the smallest particle that is still salt. Remember , this
is true not only of salt, but of everything else in creation--
everything can be broken up into molecules, and molecules are
nothing but combinations of atoms.
When the atom was first discovered it was believed that it
could not be divided. In fact, the word atom means “cannot be
cut.” So atomic substances were though of as being elements.
There were about ninety-six of these including carbon, copper,
oxygen, hydrogen, etc. And so it was proved that the only
difference, between the water in a glass, for instance, and the
glass itself, was that they were composed of different combinations
of atoms or atomic substances.
But modern scientists have gone beyond the atom. By discovering
a means of “cutting” the atom, they have discovered
the “electron.“ They have found that the atom consists of a
“nucleus” or center, surrounded by one or more moving electrons,
and that the atoms differ from each other only in the
number of electrons each contains. Fig. 1 shows the difference
between an atom of hydrogen and another slightly more complex
atom, as they are generally imagined to be. Concerning the
nucleus, much remains to be learned, but for our purposes, we
have gone far enough in science when we have reached the electron
and learned something about it.
If it were possible to enlarge the atom so that we could see
it with the naked eye, we would observe some peculiar things
about electrons. We would notice, for instance, that they do not
touch each other, that they seem to be moving in space about the
nucleus. This space is called “ether” by scientists and must not
be confused with “air” as we know it, which is full of various
gases and so is itself composed of atoms having electrons. This
ether has no connection with the medicinal ether which doctors
use. When we use the word “ether” we mean “nothingness”--if
