Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos
Encyclopedia
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
and published in 1992. In it, Asimov presents the atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
and subatomic particle
Subatomic particle
In physics or chemistry, subatomic particles are the smaller particles composing nucleons and atoms. There are two types of subatomic particles: elementary particles, which are not made of other particles, and composite particles...
s in a historical context, beginning with Democritus
Democritus
Democritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....
's original thought experiments and theory of atomism
Atomism
Atomism is a natural philosophy that developed in several ancient traditions. The atomists theorized that the natural world consists of two fundamental parts: indivisible atoms and empty void.According to Aristotle, atoms are indestructible and immutable and there are an infinite variety of shapes...
, and ending with then-current knowledge of the fundamental particles.
The book is separated into twelve chapters, plus the index.
| Chapter | Subject |
|---|---|
| One | Matter |
| Two | Light |
| Three | Electrons |
| Four | Nuclei |
| Five | Isotopes |
| Six | Neutrons |
| Seven | Breakdowns |
| Eight | Antimatter |
| Nine | Neutrinos |
| Ten | Interactions |
| Eleven | Quarks |
| Twelve | The Universe |
- Isaac Asimov , D. F. Bach, Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos, Plume; Reprint edition (August 1, 1992), ISBN 0-452-26834-6