Tweet
...to know the exact number of atoms in a given volume of something?
My friends and I, who are rather science-inclined but by no means experts in any field, were discussing this last night. We were trying to propose some sort of experiment by which you could accurately measure the exact number of atoms in an object of some sort. Not by counting them, of course, but by deriving them through perfect knowledge of density, volume, etc.
They had ideas like... taking a container made of some non-reactive material (someone suggested gold, I think), with a given mass and volume, pouring water into the container, sealing the container in some perfect way, and then trying to figure out how many molecules (hm. oh. it was two in the morning. it seems we forgot the fact that water is not an atom. anyways. number of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, then.) of water were contained in the... uh... container.
Eventually this discussion got very speculative and rather illogical (two in the morning!) and my brother seemed to think quantum physics would prevent such a measurement from ever being exactly right.
At this point I kind of stopped participating in the discussion and resolved to come to 'Poly to ask the likes of JM, KH, and other people that actually are scientists in real life.
So.
Is it possible to know how many atoms are contained in a given volume of stuff?
And if so, how would one construct an experiment to figure out that quantity?
/me braces for ridicule and laughter.
My friends and I, who are rather science-inclined but by no means experts in any field, were discussing this last night. We were trying to propose some sort of experiment by which you could accurately measure the exact number of atoms in an object of some sort. Not by counting them, of course, but by deriving them through perfect knowledge of density, volume, etc.
They had ideas like... taking a container made of some non-reactive material (someone suggested gold, I think), with a given mass and volume, pouring water into the container, sealing the container in some perfect way, and then trying to figure out how many molecules (hm. oh. it was two in the morning. it seems we forgot the fact that water is not an atom. anyways. number of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, then.) of water were contained in the... uh... container.
Eventually this discussion got very speculative and rather illogical (two in the morning!) and my brother seemed to think quantum physics would prevent such a measurement from ever being exactly right.
At this point I kind of stopped participating in the discussion and resolved to come to 'Poly to ask the likes of JM, KH, and other people that actually are scientists in real life.
So.
Is it possible to know how many atoms are contained in a given volume of stuff?
And if so, how would one construct an experiment to figure out that quantity?
/me braces for ridicule and laughter.
Comment