Some parents may have ambitions beyond the eleven plus. Ernest
Rutherford’s mother and father were probably very proud of him. “Ernest, stop
talking about splitting the atom. Come and have your evening meal.”
We need to go back to Empedocles in the Fifth Century BC who
stated that the universe was composed of four basic elements: Earth, Air, Fire
and Water. This was accepted for around two thousand years. Imagine how proud the
mother and father of Empedocles would feel if they were still around! It was,
however, Leucippus and Democritus who developed the idea of the atom. To them the
atom was a tiny particle of matter that could not be split.
Ernest, however, split the atom. (If one atom is an atomos –
then what is half an atom?)
If you want your child to be remembered for a long time,
work on the atom.
Eleven plus children, however, have to be able to play with
words.
The letters make: a, am, at, atom, mat, moat and to. There
may even be a few more!
With `atomos’ (From the Ancient Greek) we get an extra moo,
moot and soot.
I wonder how many words we can get from the letters in Ernest
Rutherford!
