Question: what are atoms made of?

Jess Wade answered on 18 Jun 2015:

Brilliant OPscorpion.

We study this in physics- in fact, I did an exam called ‘atomic physics’. Have you heard of the particle accelerator in switzerland? IT’s a huge ring, 27,000 m around it (27 km) where physicists from my university are hitting particles together to try and understand just what is inside an atom.

What we know is that there is a central bit where most of the mass exists. We call this the nucleus. The nucleus contains a mixture of two little particles called protons (positive charge) and neutrons (no charge). Different elements (carbon, oxygen, hydrogen) have different numbers of protons and neutrons). Around the nucleus, little electrons (charge carriers) whiz around really fast. They basically weight nothing (cheeky little fellows). Actually, we think they weigh 9 x 10 ^ -31 kg. That means 0.0000000000000000000000000091 grams! The electrons are negatively charged and attracted to the protons (positive charge). they whiz around the nucleus in clouds and are what conduct electricity. The electrons are where all molecules hold hands if the molecules are stuck together- in water (H2O) two hydrogens share electrons with one oxygen.