An example of a misleading passage in a popular science book:
'Recipe' for table salt:
"Prepare sodium atoms by combining for each 12 neutral and 11 charge nucleus and attaching to each nucleus 11 electrons. Prepare an equal number of chlorine atoms by combining 18 or 20 neutral and 17 charged nucleons (isotopes), attaching to each nucleus 17 electrons. Arrange the sodium and chlorine atoms in a three-dimensional chessboard pattern to form regular salt crystals."
George Gamow (1961) One, Two, Three…Infinity. Facts and speculations of science, Revised Edition, Dover Publications, Inc., New York.
This implies that sodium chloride is comprised of distinct atoms, when the basic units are actually ions: Na+ and Cl–. Elsewhere in the same book Gamow suggests that NaCl molecules form from pairs of atoms that are involved in electron transfer [sodium atom electron goes to a chlorine atom to form a molecule] which is also incorrect.
Read about the nature of alternative conceptions
Read about some examples of science misconceptions
Read about historical scientific conceptions
