Very Small Objects

Invisible Objects:
We saw in Section 84 that gases have a tendency to expand, but that they can be compressed by the application of force. This observation has led scientists to suppose that substances are composed of very minute particles called molecules, separated by small spaces called pores; and that when a gas is condensed, the pores become smaller, and that when a gas expands, the pores become larger.

The fact that certain substances are soluble, like sugar in water, shows that the molecules of sugar find a lodging place in the spaces or pores between the molecules of water, in much the same way that pebbles find lodgment in the chinks of the coal in a coal scuttle. An indefinite quantity of sugar cannot be dissolved in a given quantity of liquid, because after a certain amount of sugar has been dissolved all the pores become filled, and there is no available molecular space. The remainder of the sugar settles at the bottom of the vessel, and cannot be dissolved by any amount of stirring.

If a piece of potassium permanganate about the size of a grain of sand is put into a quart of water, the solid disappears and the water becomes a deep rich red. The solid evidently has dissolved and has broken up into minute particles which are too small to be seen, but which have scattered themselves and lodged in the pores of the water, thus giving the water its rich color.

There is no visible proof of the existence of molecules and molecular spaces, because not only are our eyes unable to see them directly, but even the most powerful microscope cannot make them visible to us. They are so small that if one thousand of them were laid side by side, they would make a speck too small to be seen by the eye and too small to be visible under the most powerful microscope.

We cannot see molecules or molecular pores, but the phenomena of compression and expansion, solubility and other equally convincing facts, have led us to conclude that all substances are composed of very minute particles or molecules separated by spaces called pores.