Lesson 4 Atom
原子
The really strange thing about atoms is that most of us will never see one.
原子最奇特之处在于绝大多数人永远也无法看到它。
Atoms are so small that it's impossible to see one with the naked eye.
原子很小，人的肉眼无法看到。
In fact, atoms are so small that it's impossible to see one with any ordinary microscope.
实际上，原子小到用普通显微镜都无法观察得到。
How small is an atom?
原子有多微小呢？
An atom is about one-millionth the thickness of a human hair!
它只有人的头发直径的百万分之一！
The tiniest speck of dust that you could see under an ordinary microscope would still contain about ten billion atoms!
你在普通显微镜下看到的最微上的尘埃颗粒仍然会包含着大约100亿颗原子！
Atoms are the smallest possible part of any material.
原子是构成所有物质的最小单位。
For example, if you took a copper penny and cut it in half,
例如，如果你把一分面额的铜币切割成两半，
and then kept cutting it in half until you were down to the smallest possible bit of copper, that would be an atom.
然后一直这样分割下去直到不能再分为止，那就可能出现的最小的铜粒就是原子啦。
Electrons and Protons
电子和质子
There are things that are actually even smaller than atoms.
其实还有比原子更小的东西。
What are those?
是什么东西？
They are the things that make up the atom, such as electrons and protons.
就是那些构成原子的东西，比如电子和质子。
Is there anything that is smaller than electrons and protons?
还有比电子和质子更小的东西吗？
Of course there is.
当然有了，如果我们能够做到的话，
Things can be divided and broken down into indefinitely small parts if we can.
物质可以被分割或分解成无穷小的部分。
I really don't want to know about this. Physics gives me a headache.
我不想知道这些事情。这些物理概念真让我头疼。
Electrons and Protons
电子和质子
There are things that are actually even smaller than atoms.
其实还有比原子更小的东西。
What are those?
是什么东西？
They are the things that make up the atom, such as electrons and protons.
就是那些构成原子的东西，比如电子和质子。
Is there anything that is smaller than electrons and protons?
还有比电子和质子更小的东西吗？
Of course there is.
当然有了，
Things can be divided and broken down into indefinitely small parts if we can.
如果我们能够做到的话，物质可以被分割或分解成无穷小的部分。
I really don't want to know about this. Physics gives me a headache.
我不想知道这些事情。这些物理概念真让我头疼。