Fundamental particles of an atom

An atom is the smallest unit quantity of an element that is capable of existence, either alone or in chemical combination with other atoms of the same or another element. The fundamental particles of which atoms are composed are the proton, electron and neutron.

A neutron and a proton have approximately the same mass and, relative to these, an electron has negligible mass (Table 1.1). The charge on a proton is positive and of equal magnitude, but opposite sign, to that on a negatively charged electron; a neutron has no charge. In an atom of any element, there are equal numbers of protons and electrons and so an atom is neutral. The nucleus of an atom consists

of protons and neutrons, and is positively charged; the nucleus of protium consists of a single proton. The electrons occupy a region of space around the nucleus. Nearly all the mass of an atom is concentrated in the nucleus, but the volume of the nucleus is only a tiny fraction of that of the atom; the radius of the nucleus is about 10^-15 m while the atom itself is about 10⁵ times larger than this. It follows that the density of the nucleus is enormous, more than 10¹² times than of the metal Pb. Although chemists tend to consider the electron, proton and neutron as the fundamental (or elementary) particles of an atom, particle physicists would disagree, since their research shows the presence of yet smaller particles.

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