• Question: If we are all made of small atoms at our simplest, does that mean we are made of the same thing in its simplest form as a table?

    Asked by anon-181546 on 6 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Claudia Bonfio

      Claudia Bonfio answered on 6 Jun 2018:


      Well, this view is right, and a bit extreme =D We are made predominantly by 6 atoms (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, plus many others) combined in thousands of different molecules (that are simply a group of atoms bound together). So, what makes us different with respect to a table is not the atoms themselves (which are the same), but the molecules…
      It is like saying that a pancake, a crepes and a cake are all the same thing… Well, you need the same ingredients for all of them, but you combine them in a different way… and the result is different =)

    • Photo: Daniel Rhodes

      Daniel Rhodes answered on 7 Jun 2018:


      just adding an obligatory Carl Sagan quote here:
      “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”

    • Photo: Alex Haragan

      Alex Haragan answered on 8 Jun 2018:


      Good answers both.
      In fact we know atoms are made up of even smaller components – neutrons protons and electrons, and that those in turn are made up of smaller things again (subatomic particles).
      Then you’re into the realm of matter and anti-matter, and theoretical particles like the Higgs-Bosun.
      This is all well outside my area of expertise – but its a fascinating read!
      A bit of history, the ancient greek Democritus first came up with the notion of fundamental particles that make us all up. The story goes he used the example of cutting a block of cheese – and cutting it smaller and smaller and smaller. Eventually you’d end up with particles you couldn’t cut in half – and the greek for “uncuttable” is “atomos” – which is where we derived the term “atom” from.
      Of course we know you can split the atom – but not bad for someone from 2,400 years ago!

    • Photo: Hannah Farley

      Hannah Farley answered on 10 Jun 2018:


      Yes. Which I think is kind of cool.

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