Every single thing in the world is made of atoms. Atoms are so tiny that there are only a few microscopes in the whole world powerful enough to show them. It would take about 20 million atoms to make a dot as big as this one over the letter i. In fact, if you had one atom for every single person in the states of Pennsylvania and California, you could fit them all on the head of a pin!
But, small as they are, atoms are the building blocks that make everything. You certainly don't look anything like an elephant—do you? But you are both made of atoms! You don't look anything like a scrambled egg, either—or a washcloth, or a refrigerator—but they are all made of atoms, too!
Atoms are everywhere, they are everything—and you should learn something about them because you live in the atomic age.
Why is this the atomic age? Were atoms just discovered? No, they weren't. People have known about atoms for a long time.
Then what is different about this age? The difference that we have learned how to make atoms work for us. We call this work atomic energy.
When your father and mother were children, no one had ever heard of atomic energy. Energy for heat, light, and to operate machinery came from a few main sources. Some came from water power, a little from wind power—but almost all energy came from burning fuels.
The chief fuels of the world for many years have been coal, oil, and natural gas. These are all fossil fuels. That means that they were made millions of years ago and have lain trapped in the earth ever since. Once these fuels are used up, there will be no way to replace them. There just won't be any more.
By the early years of the 1900's, some people were beginning to worry about fuel. There wasn't any shortage yet, and there wouldn't be for a long time. There were still new coal mines and new oil wells being discovered. But some day, the last one would be discovered, the fuels would be all used—and then what?
