⚛️ What Is an Atom?
6th Grade ⚗️ Chemistry
An atom is a tiny building block of matter. Everything around you — air, water, your body — is made of atoms.
Super small
Atoms are far too small to see, even with a regular microscope. A single grain of sand has more atoms than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth!
What is inside
In the center is the nucleus, made of protons (positive charge) and neutrons (no charge). Tiny electrons (negative charge) move around the nucleus.
Different kinds
The number of protons decides what kind of atom it is. Hydrogen has 1 proton, carbon has 6 and oxygen has 8. There are 118 known kinds of atoms, called elements.
Quick quiz
What is in the center of an atom?
Which particle has a negative charge?
What decides which element an atom is?