Physics has been defined in a variety of ways.
It has been called the "scientific study of matter and
energy and how they interact with each other." Physics
focuses on discovering relationships and explaining
patterns that arise in nature, then quantifying them
in a way that hopefully everyone can understand. Very
little, if any, of the world's scientific knowledge is
exempt from physics, and the atom is no exception. In
fact, many of the great discoveries made by physics in
the past century would not have been possible but for
our knowledge of the atom, which goes far beyond what
is mentioned here. The patterns and relationships we
see in nature are almost always a direct result of the
interactions between atoms. Often times, understanding
grand, macroscopic ideas about the universe begins
with our knowledge of the microscopic. The atom
provides a marvelous example of this idea, and makes
one wonder what new, amazing discoveries lie ahead.
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