atom Hear it!

atom Definition

atom (at′əm)

noun

  1. Obsolete any of the indivisible particles postulated by philosophers as the basic component of all matter
  2. a tiny particle of anything; jot
  3. Chem., Physics any of the smallest particles of an element that combine with similar particles of other elements to produce compounds: atoms combine to form molecules, and consist of a complex arrangement of electrons revolving about a positively charged nucleus containing (except for hydrogen) protons and neutrons and other particles

Etymology: ME attome < OFr atome < L atomus < Gr atomos, uncut, indivisible, atom < a-, not + tomos < temnein, to cut: see -tomy

atom Idioms

the atom

nuclear energy

atom Synonyms

atom

n.

  1. Tiny particle

    fragment, mite, speck, particle, iota, mote, jot, grain, scintilla; see also bit 1.

  2. Particle in atomic physics

    the smallest particle of an element, molecule*, smallest quantity of a radical, basic unit, basic constituent, irreducible unit, irreducible constituent, atomic mass unit. *see also atomic energy, element 2.

    Parts and forms of atoms include: electron, proton, neutron, positron, neutrino, positive electron, neutral electron, nuclide quark;

atom Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • ionize: This might be corrupted data, or a legitimate description of a highly ionized atom.
  • ionize: Ionized An atom has the same number of protons and electrons.

Converse of subject

  • emit: We can detect these small motions by looking at the Doppler shift in spectral lines emitted by atoms in the solar surface.

Adjective modifier

  • neutral: Ionization The process by which a neutral atom or molecule acquires or loses an electric charge.
  • electronegative: You need to look for a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a highly electronegative atom, usually nitrogen, oxygen or fluorine.
  • excited: Finally, the dynamical aspects of Bose condensation are further investigated by studying the evolution of excited atoms.
  • dummy: Selecting the Reduce menu option will then write a unique set of voids to the Shelx INS file as dummy atoms.
  • polar: The User should make a list of the names of all the polar atoms in the Probe Molecule.
  • interstitial: As the silicon crystal grows oxygen is incorporated as an interstitial atom in the silicon matrix at a concentration of typically 10-40 ppm.

Modifies a noun

  • bomb: The Germans lost the race to develop the first atom bomb.
  • interferometer: Chu has devised an atom interferometer based on this cooling process.

Noun used with modifier

  • hydrogen: The nucleus of a hydrogen atom is a proton.
  • chlorine: The reaction is a substitution reaction; a hydrogen atom of methane is swapped for a chlorine atom.
  • oxygen: Silicon being a larger atom than carbon can form only a single covalent bond with an oxygen atom.
  • carbon: Why does the carbon atom have a positive charge?
  • helium: The typical helium atom consists of a nucleus of two protons and two neutrons surrounded by two electrons.
  • nitrogen: Type 2 Type 2 are diamonds that absorbed no, or very few, nitrogen atoms.

Preposition: in

  • molecule: All the atoms in the original molecules are found in the bigger one.
  • residue: Finally, ( again ) no interactions between residues are considered for atoms in residues closer than two residues from the central residue.

Preposition: of

  • hydrogen: A molecule of water ( H20 ) consists of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.
atom Quotes

The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeplyas they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

Sooneror latereveryone of us breathes anatomthat has been breathed before by anyone you can think of who has lived before usöMichelangelo or George Washington or Moses.

—Bronowski,Jacob

It ismoresinfultoconceal thepoweroftheatomthanit is to reveal it.

—Cole,W Sterling

I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For everyatom belonging to me asgood belongs to you.

—Whitman,Walt(er)

He understood†Walt Whitman, who laid end to end words never seen in each other's company before outside of a dictionary, and Herman Melville who split the atom of the traditional novel in the effort to make whaling a universal metaphor.

—Lodge, David John

I ask you to look both ways.For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars.

—Eddington, SirArthur Stanley

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.

—Bradley, Omar Nelson

Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a desert or to make the deserts bloom. There isno evil in the atomöonly in men's souls.

—Stevenson, Adlai E(wing)