Everything is made up of tiny particles called atoms, which we cannot see with the naked eye. Let’s explore atoms through the video below.
What is an atom? An atom is the basic unit of matter that consists of a nucleus at its center, surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus is a tightly bound mixture of protons (positively charged particles) and neutrons (neutral particles) (except in the case of hydrogen, where the stable nucleus contains only one proton without any neutrons). The electrons of an atom are bound to the nucleus by electromagnetic interactions and follow the principles of quantum mechanics. Similarly, groups of atoms are held together by chemical bonds based on the same interaction, forming molecules. An atom is electrically neutral when it has the same number of electrons as protons, while having more or fewer electrons results in a net negative or positive charge, respectively, and is referred to as an ion. Atoms are classified according to the number of protons and neutrons in their nucleus: the number of protons determines the chemical element, and the number of neutrons defines the isotope of that element. |
