Properties of Matter
Atoms in incense
Stories from Physics
for 11-14
14-16
One of the earliest known estimates of the number particles in a piece of matter was made in 1646 by the monk Chrysostomus Magnenus. He assumed that it took one ‘atom’ of incense to reach the nose in order to perceive a smell. By comparing the ratio of volumes of the cavity in his nose and the volume of the church, he estimated that in a piece of incense not larger than a pea, there were at least 7.776 x 10 17 atoms.
References
Atoms in incense
M. Quack, The concept of law and models in chemistry. European Review, vol. 22 no. 1, 2014, pp. 50-86, p. 55
