Atomic
From Wikinfo
The general meaning of "atomic" is "irreducible".
That is, reduced to the smallest possible part.
It has more specific meanings in several contexts:
- In chemistry, chemical atoms are grouped by type in the periodic table and consist of particles as described by particle physics.
- In computer science, an atomic operation is one that cannot be subdivided. Or more specifically, an operation that always completes as a whole, or doesn't complete at all. See atomic (computer science).
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Atomic" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
