9th: a particle conversation

We are physical beings. Our bodies are composed of many, many cells, and many, many different types of cells. Each cell comes into being, lives, then 'dies,' and its component parts are physiologically recycled. These component parts that make up a cell are many, many different molecules, of many, many different sizes. Some are (relatively speaking) huge, like protein molecules, and some are (relatively) teeny, like water molecules. All molecules are made up of atoms. A water molecule is made up of three atoms: one oxygen atom, and two hydrogen atoms. Every atom (there are about 90 different 'natural' types) is made up of three different types of particles - protons, neutrons, and electrons. They are called 'sub-atomic particles' since they are smaller than the atom itself. Protons and neutrons are both found in the nucleus (centre) of the atom, and they are about equal in size and mass. Electrons are not in the nucleus, and they are much, MUCH smaller than protons and neutrons (electrons are so small that they are sometimes referred to as 'electron clouds of probability,' since they are too small for us to ever accurately determine their exact location surrounding the nucleus of the atom). The relative sizes of and distances between the nucleus and the electrons within an atom are analogous to the sizes of and distances between the celestial bodies of our solar system - the Sun and the planets. Picture our solar system, with the Sun in the centre and the planets doing their seemingly endless elliptical swirling dance around it. To aid in picturing the relative sizes, here's an analogy: if the Sun were the size of a (fully inflated) basketball in Toronto, then the earth would be the size of a shrivelled pea in Winnipeg; Pluto, the planet furthest from the Sun, would be the size of a grain of sand, and it would be on the Moon. The point being, there's a whole lot o' nuttin' in our solar system - almost entirely empty space - and it's the same for every atom of every physical thing in our world. That means us too - WE are all almost entirely empty space! Oh, but it gets better. The sub-atomic particles, the protons, neutrons, and electrons, are themselves made up of even smaller particles, and so on, and so on. However, recently it's been determined that what we think of as the very smallest 'particles' (i.e., 'solid' things) are really nothing but pure energy. Our bodies, and everything else that we think of as real and 'physical,' are nothing more than empty space and energy - thoughts, feelings, beliefs, sorrows, joys, love.