Structure of Matter

What is an atom? An atom is the smallest particle of matter. It is the smallest part of something that is still that thing? Yeah, OK, but what exactly does that mean?

What does an Atom look like? Well, it’s pretty small! So small that you can’t see it with the naked eye! It’s even smaller than a cell. In fact, it would take millions of atoms to make up just one cell- now that’s pretty small!!!

What are the parts of an Atom? Well, it’s got a nucleus- that funny part in the center that has the Protons and Neutrons. Yeah, OK, but what’s a Proton, and what is a Neutron? Well, a Proton is a particle that has a positive charge and kind of stays in the middle of the Atom. A Neutron is a particle that has no charge (neutral), and hangs out in the nucleus with the Proton!

Oh Yeah and I can’t forget…….. Electrons……… We are the guys that get to have all the fun, floating around in orbits outside the nucleus. Just for the record, we have a negative charge so you will see us represented as a minus sign a lot!

One last thing :-) We Electrons travel around in these orbits (shells) and can’t go to another shell. But if a new electron wants to join us and our shell is full, they’ve got to go to the shell next door. More friendly electrons can join in that shell until that one is filled up too! These shells have names starting with the closest to the nucleus =K, and moving outward to L, M, N, and so on. K holds 2 electrons, L holds 8 electrons, M holds 18 electrons , and N holds 36 electrons……….

The Atom’s Family Album!