When I went to school, we did Dalton's atomic theory - third year chemistry.

Atoms were represented by red billiard balls with holes in. The compounds were achieved by putting metal rods in the holes.

WE knew that clever people had split the atom. Hiroshima put that beyond doubt.

We knew there covalent compounds where atoms shared electrons.

But Avogadro, Charles Law. Boyles Law, Equivalent Weight - the mainsprings of our understanding. We thought of billiard balls.

That was over fifty years ago when I sat in those science classes.

But really the sub atomic world has drifted further away from the understanding of ordinary folk.

As the advert for the Royal Navy hints. If you clean your bike, you can fire a polaris nucleat missile. We live with the consequences of clever peoples understanding, but most people don't get it.

Simple or not...