Though each individual atom is so tiny as to be completely undetectable by all but the most powerful specialized devices, atoms together form the substance of all matter in the universe, and their design testifies to the existence of a supreme Engineer of the cosmos. So, by entering the world of the atom, what can we learn of its Creator?
Protons and Neutrons
Just how small is an atom, anyway? Well, imagine you could shrink to the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Even then, you would still have much, much, much further to shrink to reach the seemingly impossible smallness of atoms, which are about one ten-billionth of a meter across! Roughly three million atoms could fit side-by-side across the diameter of that period!
In fact, the number of atoms in a common household sugar cube is equivalent to the estimated number of stars in the entire universe. Truly the utter smallness of the atom is mind-boggling!
And yet, this infinitesimal unit of matter is not some indiscriminate and featureless object. The humble atom possesses a precisely designed structure that makes it the perfect building block for the remarkable cosmos we see around us.
Were we to shrink further—so small that the atom seemed the size of a large, professional sports stadium—we might be surprised to find that inside the atom there is mostly empty space! Yet there, in the center, we find a vital part of the atomic structure: its nucleus. If our atom were the size of the stadium, its nucleus would be the size of a green pea! Yet it is the tiny nucleus that gives each atom its fundamental characteristics.