Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps
by Kees Boeke
(1957)
page 43
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-9. Again in this picture darkness of tone denotes the probability that an electron will be found in a certain place. As the sodium atom is here drawn at a 10 times larger scale, the area depicted in it is only 1/100th that of #-8. The probability that an electron will be found there will be that much smaller and the shading in consequence is made lighter. The same holds for the hydrogen atom in the inset. The nucleus of the sodium atom is in the center. Its size on this scale is only 7 microns. Twelve electrons are whirling around this nucleus at speeds of about 1,000 kilometers per second in reality, or a thousand million times more on this imagined magnified image. The sinusoid drawn shows the wave length of the finest X-rays on this scale. In the inset a quarter of a hydrogen atom is visible.

1 cm. in picture = 10-9 cm. = 0.1 A Scale = 1,000,000,000:1 = 109


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This content is from Kees Boeke's book, Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps. It has been placed online without permission.
Copyright (C) 1957 by Kees Boeke. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted, or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photo-copying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission.