The Atoms Family
Once upon a time, thousands of
years ago, a Greek man by the name of Democritus came up with the crazy notion that everything in the
universe is made up of particles. Weird, right? Anyway, these particles were so
small, they couldn’t be sliced in half. These
little things are called atoms, derived from the Greek term atomos, which means “indivisible”. John
Dalton, a man who lived in the 1800s, came up with a theory that atoms are the
tiniest particles of an element that hold in its chemical properties. So, if
you take apart the atom of an element, that element is no longer what it used
to be.
An atom is made up of even smaller
particles that scientist call subatomic
particles. These are called protons, neutrons, and electrons. The nucleus
of an atom, or its center, is a collection of neutrons and protons. Protons
have a positive electrical charge, whereas neutrons have a no electrical
charge, making them neutral. The nucleus is held together by a strong force,
and it makes sure that the protons don’t repel one another. Around the nucleus
are electrons, which have a negative electrical charge, and they move at light
speed. Their negative charge attracts positively charged protons, kind of like
the saying “opposites attract”. These opposites live in little shells that have
differing levels of energy.
Now, moving on the periodic table
of elements. Which, if you think about it, isn’t actually a table at all, but I
digress. On this “table” all the elements in the entire universe is recorded on this one little chart! Seriously, I’m not
kidding! All of these elements are arranged by their atomic numbers, the number of protons and electrons that an element
has.
If two atoms connect, or bond, they
make molecules, for example, when oxygen bonds with hydrogen, it makes H20, or
water.
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