"Gianna" adminatbuchandashmeteodotorgdotuk wrote in message
...
Tudor Hughes wrote:
Gianna wrote:

'truth' is not an absolute. For example:

When my parents were at school, it was a scientific fact (not a theory)
that the smallest particle of matter was the molecule.
When I was at school, it was a scientific fact (not a theory) that the
smallest particle of matter was the atom.

--
Gianna

Oh no it wasn't, in either case. Protons, neutrons and electrons
were known about well over 100 years ago. I suspect my Dad (born 1895)
was taught the difference between an atom and a molecule.


I was referring to what was taught at school, and until my two most
recent relocations, I still had the text books to demonstrate it.
Equally, there was no place called Israel in my geography texts, just
the British Protectorate of Palestine (or similar terminology), and that
was in 1963! Sorry if I was unclear, and I accept that I was.
The quark remains as the current smallest particle to illustrate the
point I was making however.

I left school about the same time and certainly the texts we used for
geography not only showed Israel but also the re-arranged European
boundaries post WW2. They had some problems keeping up with de-colonisation
though.

I was certainly taught not just about the major subatomic particles, after
all protons and neutrons were fundamental to atomic number and atomic
weight and electrons were important to the formation of molecules, but there
was mention of the search for such things as quarks.

Peter