<h2>What is an atom?</h2>
<p>To understand how <a data-lesson="the-building-blocks-of-life" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="chemical-foundation-of-life" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/chemical-foundation-of-life/the-building-blocks-of-life">elements</a> come together, we must first discuss the smallest component or building block of an element, the atom. An <strong>atom</strong> is the smallest unit of matter that retains all of the chemical properties of an element.</p>
<p>For example, one gold atom has all of the properties of gold. In other words, a gold atom is also solid metal at room temperature. A gold <a href="https://app.ulearngo.com/tutorials/introducing-genetics/probability">coin</a> is simply a very large number of gold atoms molded into the shape of a coin and containing small amounts of other elements known as impurities. Gold atoms cannot be broken down into anything smaller while still retaining the properties of gold.</p>
<h2>Regions in an Atom</h2>
<p>An atom is composed of two regions: the <strong>nucleus</strong>, which is in the center of the atom and contains protons and neutrons, and the outermost region of the atom which holds its electrons in orbit around the nucleus, as illustrated in the <a href="#attachment_95227">image below</a>. Atoms contain <strong>protons</strong>, <strong>electrons</strong>, and <strong>neutrons</strong>, among other subatomic particles. The only exception is <a data-lesson="hydrogen-bonds-and-van-der-waals-interactions" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="chemical-foundation-of-life" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/chemical-foundation-of-life/hydrogen-bonds-and-van-der-waals-interactions">hydrogen</a> (H), which is made of one proton and one electron with no neutrons.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_95227" style="width: 544px"><a href="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/6ae010ba-f659-447c-b340-a51672d8fcec"><img alt="helium-atom" class="size-full wp-image-95227" height="337" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/6ae010ba-f659-447c-b340-a51672d8fcec" width="544"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Elements, such as helium, depicted here, are made up of atoms. Atoms are made up of protons and neutrons located within the nucleus, with electrons in orbitals surrounding the nucleus. Image Attribution: OpenStax Biology (License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>)</p></div>
<h2>Mass and Charge of Protons, Neutrons and Electrons</h2>
<p>Protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass, about 1.67 × 10<sup>-24</sup> grams. Scientists arbitrarily define this amount of <a data-lesson="atomic-number-and-mass" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="chemical-foundation-of-life" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/chemical-foundation-of-life/atomic-number-and-mass">mass</a> as one <a data-lesson="atomic-number-and-mass" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="chemical-foundation-of-life" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/chemical-foundation-of-life/atomic-number-and-mass">atomic mass</a> unit (amu) or one Dalton, as shown in the table below. Although similar in mass, protons and neutrons differ in their electric charge.</p>
<p>A <strong>proton</strong> is positively charged whereas a <strong>neutron</strong> is uncharged. Therefore, the number of neutrons in an atom contributes significantly to its mass, but not to its charge.</p>
<p><strong>Electrons</strong> are much smaller in mass than protons, weighing only 9.11 × 10<sup>-28</sup> grams, or about 1/1800 of an atomic mass unit. Hence, they do not contribute much to an element’s overall atomic mass. Therefore, when considering atomic mass, it is customary to ignore the mass of any electrons and calculate the atom’s mass based on the number of protons and neutrons alone.</p>
<p>Although not significant contributors to mass, electrons do contribute greatly to the atom’s charge. This is because each electron has a negative charge equal to the positive charge of a proton. In uncharged, neutral atoms, the number of electrons orbiting the nucleus is equal to the number of protons inside the nucleus. In these atoms, the positive and negative charges cancel each other out, leading to an atom with no net charge.</p>
<table id="tab-ch02_01_02" summary="">
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="4">Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th> </th>
<th>Charge</th>
<th>Mass (amu)</th>
<th>Location</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Proton</td>
<td>+1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>nucleus</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Neutron</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>nucleus</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Electron</td>
<td>–1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>orbitals</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

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Structure of the Atom

Biology studies life and living organisms. Biology can be divided into different sections that cover the morphology, physiology, anatomy, behavior, and so on of living organisms.

Biology

Discover the basic concepts of chemistry that serve as the foundation of life, including the structure of atoms and the periodic table, as well as the role of water, carbon and organic compounds in living organisms.


Structure of the Atom

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