Any visible lump of matter - even the merest speck - contains more atoms than there are stars in our galaxy. When we lift an apple we feel the total weight of a colossal number of almost weightless atoms. When we hear the ripple of water we are hearing shockwaves as a myriad of almost imperceptible molecules crash down and collide with other molecules. When we dress we pull across our bodies a great web spun from the infinitesimal dots and held together by the forces acting between them. When we see a flame we are seeing the release of an almost negligible droplet of energy, but in such a Niagara that the heat sears and consumes. - PW Atkins, Molecules (page link)I love that quote. Love it more than any other quote I have ever heard about chemistry.
The simple notion that everything we are...everything we see...everything we can ever touch, see, hear, taste, or feel is made up of dots of nothing so miniscule as to almost not exist singly...that the combined might of these imperceptible bits of nothingness can crush, deafen, poison, blind, or stun you with their beauty and grandeur...is amazing to me.And I won't ever be able to say it more eloquently than did Atkin in Molecules (Though I am partial to the original volume, the one I have on the shelves in my classroom.
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