Atoms! Fact or Q theory?

Question

For those whom "know", please forgive this simpleton Question. Do we actually know for a fact via visual magnification that atoms and protons etc. are real? Or are they Quantum theory?. And following on from this, but not related, why is Q theory so trusted?.
To me it seems as irrelevent as UFO theories. Mathematical equations in QT are all guess'. Where is the proof that QT is fact? Proof is everything, and the fact that fields medal winners can't prove their equations outside QT; to me says they are wasting time and money on fantasy.
Surely physical facts must be proved physically to be fact! I realise QT is "widely" acknowledged to be fact, but until it is actual fact, why is it so relied upon?
All arguements welcome. P.s. For ten points you will need to answer all questions.

Answer 1

Individual atoms can be seen with electron microscopes.
However you can't see the nucleus (protons and neutrons) or the individual electrons.

Quantum Theory is real, has been proven and is in use almost every day. From nuclear bombs to anything that creates a chemical reaction quantum theory is a fact.

The basis of modern chemistry is that atoms share electrons when they form a chemical bond, so the humble battery is an example of quantum mechanics in action.

Quantum Theory equations are not fantasy, which most UFOs are. They have been observed to work, proven to work and experiments have been producing reliable results since its inception.

The cathode ray tube, which you could very well be staring at right now uses an electron beam that hits color phosphors to make them glow. The strength of the beam determines how bright the glow will be. The phosphors are grouped in green, red, and blue units. When the beam hits the combination of the strength of each electron beam determines what the color will be.

If you have a plasma or LED computer monitor then the operation is more complex and requires much more of quantum mechanics to understand how it works.

Quantum mechanics explain things as old as mankind. We have known basic chemistry like acids and what happens when baking soda and vinegar are mixed for thousands of years. We had theories on why, but we didn't know what was going on at the subatomic level. Quantum mechanics explains all of that. So we have been physically proving that quantum mechanics works for thousands of years, but we haven't understood all that proof until the middle of the 20th century when quantum theory was first derived.

It was derived to explain why things happen as they do, and the physical proof came first, the theory was an attempt to explain why. That is why it is so trusted, because it is so easy to verify.

The problem is that the subatomic world and the normal physical world don't operate with the same rules. All of classical physics is derived from the one formula F=ma. Galileo observed proof for the formula, but it took Isaac Newton, many years later, to come up with the math for it; calculus.

The same was true for quantum mechanics we knew what was going on through experiments and simple observation, but we didn’t know why. Quantum mechanics is the theory that best explains the observed facts. The problem is that on the subatomic level F=ma is no longer true. Electrons don't move in regular orbits, they are in clouds of probability. Under classic physics the protons would not cluster in the nucleus so the atom would be impossible. The strong and weak nuclear forces are theories from quantum mechanics that keep atoms intact.

We know quantum mechanics works because your body takes in oxygen the hemoglobin in your blood oxidizes and absorbs oxygen that it can deliver to the rest of the body. Quantum mechanics explains why the iron in the hemoglobin oxidizes and why without iron you would die of oxygen starvation. Another words we know that quantum mechanics works because we can use it to explain so much of the world, so many basic things that it has become a huge advance in our understanding of physics; this more complete understanding allowed us to do things like create the MRI machine which used a huge electromagnetic to magnetize the hydrogen atoms in your body and uses that to create highly detailed images. Without and understanding that you can magnetize the hydrogen atoms the machine would be impossible, so we needed quantum mechanics first.

We know that protons, electrons and neutrons are real by observing their effects. Like I said the good old TV set uses an electron beam. Batteries and electricity in general operates as the electrons flow through the wire in an attempt to reach the proton heavy side and equal themselves out.

Atomic bombs work by the sudden release of neutrons. All radioactive material is unstable and decays, trying to become a simpler substance. As it decays it loses neutrons, this causes the atomic nucleus to degenerate. The protons and electrons will split to the new neutron arraignment to create a new element. Fission is a process when the rate of neutron release is increased to the point where the radiation splits atoms apart releasing a huge amount of energy. This is done by taking uranium 238 or plutonium and using TNT or similar explosives to implode the core of the bomb. By pushing the pieces together you increase the chance of a fission reaction happening and the bomb explodes outward. The strength of the explosion is determine with this formula E=mc^2 another words the energy equals the mass times the speed of light times the speed of light again. That’s why nuclear bombs are so powerful.

We use particle accelerators to break apart atoms and to combine atoms to create new elements (by smashing them together) and to break down the subatomic particles in to a virtual zoo of subatomic particles. We can’t see these particles, but we can detect them and we know they exist.

Neutrinos are some of the smallest subatomic particles and since they have a neutral charge they are hard to detect. They are also extremely fast moving particles. Modern neutrino detectors are huge vats of detergent at the bottoms of 3 mile deep mines. When neutrinos penetrate the earth some are slowed down enough that when they enter the vat of detergent they create a reaction causing a physical trail to appear in the vat; a trail that is observed with high speed cameras. A cloud chamber is used to study moving electrons and the fogging on film is an action created by x-rays which are fast moving photons, some of the smallest subatomic particles.

For reasons as simply as your breath we know quantum mechanics works; just as something as simple as a falling apple inspired classical physics. Both sets of physics explain the basic way the universe operates.

Answer 2

1. Some basic structure noting the presence of atoms can be derived from electron microscopes.
2. The fact that you are using an electron microscope(nevertheless a computer) says that you must be using electrons, which are parts of an atom.
3. If atoms are negatively charged, it would concur that there must be a positive charge somewhere, or else everything would be negatively charged, and there would be no net anywhere, no electricity, no lightning etc..
4. Nuclear fission is a direct proof of current atomic theory. If what we knew wasn't true, we would not have nuclear power. You can't split an atom if you do not know if atoms exist.
5. Is the Mathematical equation 1+1 = 2 a guess? Mathematics works on deduction and reasoning, not 'guesses'. This argument arises all of the time, people say quantum theory is 'rubbish' simply because they cannot understand the maths behind it.
6. You cd player, dvd player etc would not work if quantum theory wasn't true. Without quantum physics the atom would fly apart and matter would not exist. I am not going to try and explain here, as it is evident you are missing a massive amount of background information.
7. There are plenty of facts to support quantum theory. I do not know where you get your information from. Try taking a 1st year university physics course.
8. On that note, what 'fact' would convince you that quantum theory exists?

Answer 3

You seem to be confused about "facts" and "theories." Theories NEVER, EVER "grow up" to become facts. Newton's Theory of Gravity? Still a theory.

Scientists never talk about "facts" either. What the heck is a fact? We have observations and evidence instead.

What makes you think that only "visual magnification" would be supporting evidence for QM? There are mountains of evidence for QM that don't involve magnification. (Putting aside that such magnification can be performed in a way)

QM correctly predicts the outcomes of all experiments (such as the double-slit experiment, for instance) that have been performed at the subatomic level. These experiments cover such wide-ranging fields as nuclear physics, particle physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, etc. Exactly what more are you looking for?

Answer 4

I suggest cutting this - I usually don't read the entire document of a question this length and I started telling you what a theory was until I caught it by accident. I didn't read the 2 larger paragraphs at first because for some reason long questions make me lose my attention span! I've noticed over time that a lot of people do the same for long questions.

Answer 5

Atoms can be observed under the magnification of an electron microscope since electrons are smaller than atoms.

Answer 6

Look up a video called 'what the bleep do we know' about quantum theory. It will answer your questions