The Arvada enterprise., 1924-03-13
SCIENCE SAYS ATOM
TINY SOLAR SYSTEM
Problem Presents Very Spe-
cial Case of Map Making.

has conceived the atom to be Il tiny
"soar system" The question then
arises: How big is an atoms uni.
verse and how does 1t compare with
our universe!
Making a model to give some little
inkling of the size of our universe Is
not such an impossible task as might
at first appear says a bulletin from
the Washington, ID. c., headquarters
OF the National Geographic society,
which classes the problem as sort
Of very special case of map making"
"ArchImedes boosted that If he had
q fulcrum and long enough lever he
could move the earth,' says the bull
letin. Similarly the map maker or
the model maker might say: Give me
scale small enough and can model
our universe
What 10 a Universe7
"There must be clear understand
Ing of terms, however. 1t Is not the
universe that can be built to scale.
That, outside the Einsteln school, IL
generally considered infinite in extent; ;
and no matter how tiny the seal. the
Infinite, of course. could never be
brought within the limits of a model.
But there Is a definite thing that may
be called our universe whose limits
astronomers have estimated-the space
marked out by the distance to the
outermost star of the Milky Way.
Imagine this star to be piece
Of chalk tied to a string, the other END
pinned to the earth. swing 1t about
in every direction with the string taut
and you will mark out great sphere
Of space believed to be 100000 light
years across. A light year is the dis
taucs that Light travels in q year. NOV.
ing at the rate of about $4,000 miles
second. 1t Is the yard stick of mod
ern astronomy. A light year Is In
round numbers six trillion miles. ana
the distance across our universe Is
taken as $4,000 times six trillion
miles.
ut must be understood that we are
not assumed to be at the center OF an
actual globular universe. We have
merely carved from space around Us
an lima glnary, arbitrary globe In such
a way that 1t Includes practically all
the stars that. we can see. and have
called 1t our universe
"The dimensions OF this universe
sOur star system, Is another name for
it-when given in miles or light years
mean little to most minds. Let US
adopt the map makers plan and scale
It down. Most maps have in one cor.
ner legend such as, scale: ! inch
EQUALS 800 miles Let us try for our
universe model the scale, the period
mt the end of this sentence equals
solar system
ION the motion picture screen many
of us hRve seen represented large
disk which Is made to decrease rap
idly until II becomes a mere dot. I'M
agine the great solar system shrink
Ing In this way before our eyes until
what was the path Of Neptune, nearly
three billion miles from the sun. 10
now the outer edge OF the period.
Scale Too Large.
III the globular universe that con.
talns our star system shrnnk at the
same time and In the same proportion.
how big would II be when the solar
system was the size Of the little black
punctuation dot? 1t would be repre-
sented by n globe nearly 1000 miles
across, ball with II diameter half
again as large MS the earth So our
scale Is far too great. II we are to
have workable model. the scale must
be further reduced.
AT the lower end OF the world Of
matter the atom Is built 'hke n tiny
solar system. Its size Is known to
science: and with Its lntinltesimal cen.
tral sun and Its planetary electrons.
1t makes most appropriate measure
for the circling planets and stars. The
helium atom may be selected because
II Is the simples. atom that swima
free.
Just hsw the helIum atom mimics
the solar system Is worth noting. AZ
ter many years of palnstaklng re-
search, physicists are OF the opinion
that every atom consists OF IN In.
hnit.simally small center, called .
'proton' which stands In the place OF
the sun: and one or more tiny bits
called .clectrnns' that revolve around
the center more or less ns the plan
cts revolvc around the sun. Al the
very bottom Of the ladder is an atom
consisting ofsn protcn with one plan
ctnry'~ ~clectrdh This is hydrogen, the
simplest of the atoms.
"Thc diameter of a hcliunfatom Ia
something Ike one-forty-m!llIonth Of
nm inch and II the solar system were
scaled down to that size. our universe
would be represented by n globe "A
feet through,
Even this does not show up the
earth In all It's unimpor'nncc. 1t must
be remembered that the helium atom
represents the whole solar system. the
diameter Of which Is about 200"
,im.S ns great MS the diameter OF the