Atoms in Motion: Feynman's Physics Explained
If you had to pass on just one sentence of scientific knowledge to the next generation, it would be the atomic hypothesis: all things are made of atoms — tiny particles in perpetual motion that attract one another at a small distance but repel when squeezed too close together. That one idea, used with a little imagination, explains why water freezes into a rigid pattern and boils into steam, why things have pressure and heat, and why salt dissolves. It is the foundation everything else is built on.
The big idea
Everything is made of atoms in constant motion.
Think about it
Heating a gas makes its atoms move faster. Can you use the atomic picture to explain why a balloon expands when you warm it up?
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