The ATOM

When you hear the word “atom,” what occurs to you? If you’re familiar with chemistry or physics students when you were in secondary school (or, you’re still in secondary school yourself), or, in the alternative, you were/are a science student yourself, then, definitely the word “atom” shouldn’t be very un-familiar to you! All the same, for the sake of carrying-along all of our audience here on this blog, we wish to say that the word “atom” is simply that word that we use in the sciences, and particularly in physics, chemistry and biochemistry, to describe that “minutest” particle of “matter.” Remember that “matter” simply means “material” – whether in the solid state (e.g. your phone), or in the liquid state (e.g. your favourite drink), or in the gaseous (“gas”) state, (e.g. the breath of your nostrils!) “Matter” is that word that is used, in science, to refer to ‘everything’ that exists and can be felt, handled OR “experienced” and “encountered” in any manner, whatsoever, in this physical realm. Even you yourself (your body), as far as science is concerned, is “MATTER.” The food you eat, is “matter.” The road upon which we move from one place to another, is all matter – the ‘coal-tar’ (bitumen) and other things used in constructing that road, is “matter.” The entire Earth, itself, is “matter.” The clothes you wear, is matter. Everything (physically seen, or “perceptible” or that can be “experienced” in one way or another in this physical realm) is MATTER. In fact, in science, we say that “matter is ANYTHING that has materiality (mass) and occupies space.” In the days of yore, we used to say that “matter is anything that has weight and occupies space,” and I suppose that is a definition that a lot of our audience here should be able to relate with. Is there anything you know that has “weight”.? It doesn’t have to be “heavy.” Even if it’s as “light” as air (air has weight, even though it’s very LIGHT compared with other substances around us), then that thing is “matter.” And, then, of course, it also occupies space. So, whatever has “weight” and “occupies space,” is MATTER! In other words, whatever EXISTS in this physical realm, is MATTER! And, the beautiful thing, like I said, earlier-on, is that the “atom” (our subject here) is the “minutest” particle of matter. However, we shall soon show you, that, although the “atom” is, generally speaking, known as the “minutest” particle of matter, (that is, the “unit” of matter), yet, experiments have shown that this “minutest” particle of matter has got certain “sub-units” in it! This may sound contradictory, since, if it is the “minutest” (that is, the “smallest”) unit of matter, how come it can still be separated into sub-units? It’s like saying that the ‘individual’ (person) is the ‘unit’ of human population; yet that “unit” can still be “separated” into its constituent organs – heart, liver, etc. But you and I know that a “heart” or “a liver” or “lung” or “spleen” or “kidney,” on its own, cannot by itself function as a “whole” unit of humanity. So, even though the individual human being is the “unit” (smallest division) of human population, yet that “unit” has got its constituent parts. It is in that same manner, that we must “see” the “atom,” which, like I said, is the smallest “unit” of matter! Everything in existence (physically speaking) can be “cut down” (reduced) to its “smallest UNIT” which is known as the ATOM of that substance or element. Let me explain. You’re familiar with a hospital scenario where a patient may be said to be in need of “oxygen,” isn’t it.? I’m sure you’re familiar with that. Now, oxygen, naturally, exists in the gaseous (“gas”) state – that is, “oxygen” is like ‘air’ – in fact, oxygen is the one element in the air around us that we really need more than any of the other elements in that air.

So, “oxygen” is an ELEMENT in nature. That is, it is a “substance” that exists by itself and cannot be broken down into two or more other substances. Such a “substance,” like “oxygen,” which cannot be further broken down into two or more substances, is called an ELEMENT. So, “oxygen” is an ELEMENT. As an “element,” it is MATTER. Because “matter” is anything that has ‘materiality’ (even if it’s a gaseous materiality) and occupies space. So, oxygen is MATTER; and it is, specifically speaking, an ELEMENT. As an element (which is “matter”) it can be ‘split’ into its ‘individual’ units of oxygen. That is, if you give me a quantity of oxygen gas (say in a cylinder), that quantity of oxygen gas is like a ‘population’ of individual atoms of oxygen; just like Nigeria is a population of individual people called Nigerians! I’m sure you’re getting it! And, just as the Nigerian population can be separated into individual persons, so also any quantity of oxygen gas in a container can be ‘separated’ into ‘individual’ oxygen ‘atoms.’ Now you’re getting it! So, oxygen is MATTER (it has materiality); it is an ELEMENT (it cannot be further sub-divided into other elements); but then, even as an element, it has got individual “units” called “atoms.”

So, in science, we like to define an “atom” as the smallest unit of an element that is capable of a separate existence on its own! Now you’re getting it, am I right?

I think we shall end there for now.

In our next post we will be able to differentiate between the “definition” of an atom as we have given it here, today, and that of another “unit” called the “molecule.” But let’s not go into that now.

For now, we have learnt the following things:

(1) Everything that has “materiality” or “existence” in this physical universe – be it a solid, a liquid, or a gas – is MATTER.

(2) MATTER is composed of several ELEMENTS. An element is a substance of “matter” that CANNOT be split further into more elements. That is, it’s a primary (elementary) substance of MATTER. E.g. oxygen gas.

(3) The smallest unit of an element that is capable of a separate existence on its own, is called an “ATOM” of that element.

Yes, SCIENCE IS FUN