What Is an Atom?

Atoms are the basic units of matter and the defining structure of elements. The
term "atom" comes from the Greek word for indivisible, because it was once
thought that atoms were the smallest things in the universe and could not be
divided. We now know that atoms are made up of three particles: protons,
neutrons and electrons — which are composed of even smaller particles, such as
quarks​.

Atoms were created after the ​Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. As the hot, dense
new universe cooled, conditions became suitable for quarks and electrons to
form. Quarks came together to form protons and neutrons, and these particles
combined into nuclei. This all took place within the first few minutes of the
universe's existence, according to ​CERN​.

It took 380,000 years for the universe to cool enough to slow down the electrons
so that the nuclei could capture them to form the first atoms. The earliest atoms
were primarily ​hydrogen and ​helium​, which are still the most abundant elements
in the universe, according to ​Jefferson Lab​. Gravity eventually caused clouds of
gas to coalesce and form stars, and heavier atoms were (and still are) created
within the stars and sent throughout the universe when the star exploded
(supernova).

Atomic particles

Protons and neutrons are heavier than electrons and reside in the nucleus at the
center of the atom. Electrons are extremely lightweight and exist in a cloud
orbiting the nucleus. The electron cloud has a radius 10,000 times greater than
the nucleus, according to the ​Los Alamos National Laboratory​.

Protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass. However, one proton
is about 1,835 times more massive than an electron. Atoms always have an
equal number of protons and electrons, and the number of protons and neutrons
is usually the same as well. Adding a proton to an atom makes a new element,
while adding a neutron makes an isotope, or heavier version, of that atom.

Nucleus
The nucleus was discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford, a physicist from New
Zealand. In 1920, Rutherford proposed the name proton for the positively
charged particles of the atom. He also theorized that there was a neutral particle
within the nucleus, which James Chadwick, a British physicist and student of
Rutherford's, was able to confirm in 1932.

Virtually all the mass of an atom resides in its nucleus, according to ​Chemistry
LibreTexts​. The protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus are
approximately the same mass (the proton is slightly less) and have the same
angular momentum, or spin.

The nucleus is held together by the ​strong force​, one of the four basic forces in
nature. This force between the protons and neutrons overcomes the repulsive
electrical force that would otherwise push the protons apart, according to the
rules of electricity. Some atomic nuclei are unstable because the binding force
varies for different atoms based on the size of the nucleus. These atoms will
then decay into other elements, such as carbon-14 decaying into nitrogen-14.

Protons

Protons are positively charged particles found within atomic nuclei. Rutherford
discovered them in experiments with cathode-ray tubes that were conducted
between 1911 and 1919. Protons are about 99.86% as massive as neutrons.

The number of protons in an atom is unique to each element. For example,

carbon atoms have six protons, ​hydrogen atoms have one and ​oxygen atoms
have eight. The number of protons in an atom is referred to as the atomic
number of that element. The number of protons also determines the chemical
behavior of the element. Elements are arranged in the ​Periodic Table of the
Elements​ in order of increasing atomic number.

Three quarks make up each proton — two "up" quarks (each with a two-thirds
positive charge) and one "down" quark (with a one-third negative charge) — and
they are held together by other subatomic particles called gluons, which are
massless.

Electrons
Electrons are tiny compared to protons and neutrons, over 1,800 times smaller
than either a proton or a neutron. Electrons are about 0.054% as massive as
neutrons, according to ​Jefferson Lab​.

Joseph John (J.J.) Thomson, a British physicist, discovered the electron in 1897,
according to the ​Science History Institute​. Originally known as "corpuscles,"
electrons have a negative charge and are electrically attracted to the positively
charged protons. Electrons surround the atomic nucleus in pathways called
orbitals, an idea that was put forth by Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian physicist,
in the 1920s. Today, this model is known as the quantum model or the electron
cloud model. The inner orbitals surrounding the atom are spherical but the outer
orbitals are much more complicated.

An atom's electron configuration refers to the locations of the electrons in a

typical atom. Using the electron configuration and principles of physics, chemists
can predict an atom's properties, such as stability, boiling point and conductivity,
according to the ​Los Alamos National Laboratory​.

Neutrons

The neutron's existence was theorized by Rutherford in 1920 and discovered by

Chadwick in 1932, according to the ​American Physical Society​. Neutrons were
found during experiments when atoms were shot at a thin sheet of ​beryllium​.
Subatomic particles with no charge were released – the neutron.

Neutrons are uncharged particles found within all atomic nuclei (except for
hydrogen). A neutron's mass is slightly larger than that of a proton. Like
protons, neutrons are also made of quarks — one "up" quark (with a positive 2/3
charge) and two "down" quarks (each with a negative one-third charge).

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