PHYS 1470 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Visible Spectrum, Thermodynamics, Fluorescent Lamp
13 Mar 2013
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Placed a radioactive source to send a stream of tiny particles towards a thin sheet of gold foil. Used a geiger counter to detect the particles and see what happened when they hit the foil. The particle acted as if the foil was not there. Democritus thought it unlikely that we could divide and subdivide matter endlessly. Indivisible unit of matter which he called an atom. Secondary properties like color, smell, and taste result from combinations of atoms. Atoms themselves have no color, odor or flavor. Empedocles proposed that nature contained only 4 substances earth, water, fire and air. All other materials are made of different combinations of these 4 substances which he called elements. Published a theory about the aurora borealis, or northern lights caused in part by earth"s magnetism. How atoms mixed in the air, absorbed into water, or combined together. Air is not uniform but a mixture of gases including nitrogen and oxygen.
