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Are you sure these are atoms?

Posted by: Deep Dad Nine on January 16, 19100 at 15:39:39:

In Reply to: Define your criteria, Gotch. posted by Gideon Hallett on January 13, 19100 at 18:04:40:

Sorry to get off the subject here but I am facinated and confused by this photo. If this is an atom lattice then am I to understand that those little roundish bumps are individual atoms? My layman's understanding of modern physics is that atoms are not actually little interconnected balls - that this depiction is just a model that physicists use to describe the atomic world just as wave models are used to describe the same; that no one knows what atoms really look like - only that they exhibit particle AND wave-like behavior. Can someone straighten this out for me or recommend me to a forum that would clear this up? How can the things in this photo be atoms?

Follow Ups:

Subject to observational caveats, yes, they are. Gideon Hallett UK January 16 19100 (4)
- So, the question is, are atoms real? Gotch January 18 19100 (3)
  - Is anything real - and can you prove it? Gideon Hallett UK January 18 19100 (2)
    - here's is where I take my next step and put it into faith. Gotch January 18 19100 (1)
      - Gotch, we've been through all of this before. Twice... Gideon Hallett UK January 19 19100 (0)