The Building Blocks Of Matter

In Science Quarter 1, I learned that matter is the building block of the universe and that the building blocks of matter are atoms. Atoms are the smallest particles that can exist inside of a chemical element (molecules are the smallest particles/units in the universe and they are found in atoms). Atoms are composed of three types of particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons. Protons are positively charged particles and neutrons are particles that have no charge. The combination of both protons and neutrons is called the nucleus of the atom. Electrons are negatively charged particles that move around outside the nucleus. Atoms can be neutral if they have the same number of protons and electrons. The nucleus always has a positive charge since it contains protons.

The atomic number of an atom is the number of protons in its nucleus which gives positive charges. This number is important because it determines which kind of element it is. Elements are substances which are made of only one type of atom, and they cannot be broken down into simpler substances. The atomic mass number is the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus, and it determines the atomic mass of atoms. Not all atoms of an element have the same atomic mass number. Atoms of the same element sometimes have a different number of neutrons, which are called isotopes. Some elements have many isotopes, and some have only just a few. It is possible for atoms to also gain or lose electrons, and when this happens to an atom, it is call an ion. Ions do not have have an overall electric charge because the number of electrons in an ion is different from the number protons.

My understanding of this concept has grown a lot over these past 10 weeks. I had barely known what an atom even was, and what is was composed of. I didn't even know that matter makes up everything that we see in our everyday lives. I have learned so much about the building blocks of matter in Mrs. Ahmeds class. We can find evidence in our environment of activity in the building blocks of matter in pretty much everything, like in humans, animals, insects, food, etc.

-Emaan Khuram