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Even Smaller
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and Finer
How were the wonderful, colorful pictures on this page
produced? As you read in the introduction, there are limits
to the resolving capacity of a light microscope. What's more,
only very thin objects or thin sections can be observed using
a light microscope. The maximum magnification power for
light microscopes is about 2,000 times, and special additional
technologies must be used to achieve this. Magnifications
higher than this require a different method altogether.
On the Smallest Particles
Even the ancient Greeks pondered the question of whether there is such a thing as
the smallest particles out of which all life and all non-living things are constructed.
The Greek philosopher Democritus claimed over 2,000 years ago that if one were
to break down anything in the world into smaller and even smaller pieces, one
would eventually come across the smallest, indivisible particles. The Greeks called
these smallest particles atoms. Of course, Democritus and his colleagues were not
able to prove their claim, so there were others, such as the famous philosopher
Aristotle, who vehemently rejected this theory.
However, the results of the research of the 19th and 20th centuries support this
theory and even demonstrated that the smallest particles are composed of even
smaller particles. Although the indivisibility of the atom was refuted with the
advent of nuclear fission in nuclear reactors, Democritus and his contemporaries
were right in their claim that everything in the world and in the entire universe is
made of atoms.
One of the even smaller particles out of which an atom is constructed is called the
electron. You know the electron from your everyday life. For example, when you
plug any electric device into a power socket, then the electrons start to move in
this device's wires together in a common direction. The electric current is nothing
more than flowing electrons.
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