2.3.1: Cutting Aluminum until you get Atoms

Take some aluminum foil. Cut it in half. Now there are two smaller pieces of aluminum foil. Cut one of the pieces in half again. Cut one of those smaller pieces in half again. Continue cutting, making smaller and smaller pieces of aluminum foil. It should be obvious that the pieces are still aluminum foil; they are just becoming smaller and smaller. But how far can this exercise be taken, at least in theory? Can one continue cutting the aluminum foil into halves forever, making smaller and smaller pieces? Or is there some limit, some absolute smallest piece of aluminum foil? Thought experiments like this—and the conclusions based on them—were debated as far back as the fifth century BC by Democritus and other ancient Greek philosophers (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)).

Most elements in their pure form exist as individual atoms. For example, a macroscopic chunk of iron metal is composed, microscopically, of individual atoms. Some elements, however, exist as groups of atoms called molecules. Several important elements exist as two-atom combinations and are called diatomic molecules. In representing a diatomic molecule, we use the symbol of the element and include the subscript 2 to indicate that two atoms of that element are joined together. The elements that exist as diatomic molecules are hydrogen (H₂), oxygen (O₂), nitrogen (N₂), fluorine (F₂), chlorine (Cl₂), bromine (Br₂), and iodine (I₂).