![Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose model of atoms helped explain the spectrum of light emitted and absorbed by different elements, as illustrated by the spectrum emitted by the Sun. [Credits: AB Lagrelius & Westphal, via Wikipedia (Niels Bohr photo); N.A.Sharp, NOAO/NSO/Kitt Peak FTS/AURA/NSF (solar spectrum); moi (composite)]](https://bowlerhatscience.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/bohr_illustration.png?w=474&h=316)
Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose model of atoms helped explain the spectrum of light emitted and absorbed by different elements, as illustrated by the spectrum emitted by the Sun. [Credits: AB Lagrelius & Westphal, via Wikipedia (Niels Bohr photo); N.A.Sharp, NOAO/NSO/Kitt Peak FTS/AURA/NSF (solar spectrum); moi (composite)]
Despite a century of work, atomic physics is not a quiet field. Researchers continue to probe the structure of atoms, especially in their more extreme and exotic forms, to help understand the nature of electron interactions. They’ve created anti-atoms of antiprotons and positrons to see if they have the same spectra as their matter counterparts or even to see if they fall up instead of down in a gravitational field. Others have made huge atoms by exciting electrons nearly to the point where they break free, and some have made even more exotic “hollow atoms,” where the inner electrons of atoms are stripped out while the outer electrons are left in place. [Read more…]