So, what’s the deal with matter? At the human scale, matter is something like a rock: You can hold it in your hand, feel its weight, and see something solid with sharp boundaries. It is there.
However, when you look at it with an electron microscope, the solidity is mostly empty space. There are a few dark splotches scattered around that you could call ‘molecules of matter’.
At even greater magnification, those molecules become even more empty space with dark splotches scattered around called ‘atoms of matter’—but obviously, you can’t hold them in your hand or weigh them on the bathroom scale.
Science critic Mel Acheson describes why matter is not a given—it’s an assumption.
