KOMPAS.com – You must have heard about atoms a lot. Atoms are the smallest particles that make up the properties and characteristics of everything that exists in the world.
If the atom is the smallest particle, what does it mean that the atom cannot be split again? In fact, atoms can be further split into the three constituent particles.
Reporting from Encyclopedia Britannica, atoms are called the smallest elements because atoms can give chemical properties to an object. However atomic constituent particles independently it cannot give basic chemical properties. Atom consists of three particles namely proton, electron, and neutron.
From the picture it can be seen that the atom is a ball with all the protons and neutrons gathered in the atomic nucleus. Meanwhile, the electrons are in the shell of the atom and separated in their respective trajectories or orbits.
Protons are particles that make up the atom which are positively charged and have a mass as large as the mass of hydrogen, namely 1.67262 x 10 ^ -27 kg or 1,836 times heavier than an electron.
Protons are deep inside the atomic nucleus so they cannot be disturbed by particles outside the atom. This causes the proton to be subpartikel atom stable.
Also read: The Transmutation Reaction: The Discovery of the Proton by Ernest Rutherford
Reporting from Chemistry LibreTexts, a neutron is a subparticle of an atom that has no charge or is neutral. Only the hydrogen atom has no neutrons.
Neutrons have a mass heavier than electrons, namely 1.67493 x 10 ^ -27 kg and can be found in the nucleus along with protons.
Electrons are a subparticle of the atom with a negative electric charge and the lightest among the other subparticles, namely 9.1093837015 x 10 ^ -31 kg. Electrons are so light that 99 percent of their atomic mass depends on protons and neutrons.
Electrons are found in the atomic shell in an orderly manner, orbiting the nucleus of the atom like the planets orbiting the sun.
Because it is on the outside of the atom, electrons are not stable particles. Electrons can release or move to other atoms to form chemical reactions.
Also read: Electron Configuration: The Aufbau Principle, Pauli’s Prohibition, and Hund’s Rule
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