What what are atoms and elements ? what is the difference between them ?
Atoms are the smallest bits of ordinary matter and are made from particles called protons (which carry a positive electrical charge), neutrons (which carry no electrical charge) and electrons (which carry a negative electrical charge). The protons and neutrons cluster together in the central part of the atom, called the nucleus, and the electrons 'orbit' the nucleus. A particular atom will have the same number of protons and electrons and most atoms have at least as many neutrons as protons.
An element is a substance that is made entirely from one type of atom. For example, the element hydrogen is made from atoms containing just one proton and one electron. If you had very, very good eyes and could look at the atoms in a sample of hydrogen, you would notice that most of the atoms have no neutrons, some of them have one neutron and a few of them have two neutrons. These different versions of hydrogen are called isotopes. All isotopes of a particular element have the same number of protons, but can have different numbers of neutrons. If you change the number of protons an atom has, you change the type of element it is. If you change the number of neutrons an atom has, you make an isotope of that element. All known elements are arranged on a chart called the Periodic Table of Elements.
ImagineImagineImagine going to an ice cream store. Let's say that they have 30 different flavors of ice cream. Those are elements, the things that I have available to build my dessert from. The smallest amount of ice cream that the store will sell to me is a scoop. This is an atom. If I want, I can put two or more scoops of ice cream together. This is a molecule. If my molecule has more than one flavor of ice cream, I can call it a compound.
So, in summary:
element - a basic substance that can't be simplified (hydrogen, oxygen, gold, etc...)
atom - the smallest amount of an element
molecule - two or more atoms that are chemically joined together (H2, O2, H2O, etc...)
compound - a molecule that contains more than one element (H2O, C6H12O6, etc...)
What's wrong with the ice cream analogy? Splitting an atom creates different elements (split an oxygen atom and you don't have oxygen any longer). Splitting a scoop of ice cream results in smaller blobs of the same flavor. For the analogy to hold true, the flavor of the ice cream would have to change when you split a scoop (the chocolate 'element' would have to change into some other 'element' (flavor)).
Atoms are the smallest bits of ordinary matter and are made from particles called protons (which carry a positive electrical charge), neutrons (which carry no electrical charge) and electrons (which carry a negative electrical charge). The protons and neutrons cluster together in the central part of the atom, called the nucleus, and the electrons 'orbit' the nucleus. A particular atom will have the same number of protons and electrons and most atoms have at least as many neutrons as protons.
An element is a substance that is made entirely from one type of atom. For example, the element hydrogen is made from atoms containing just one proton and one electron. If you had very, very good eyes and could look at the atoms in a sample of hydrogen, you would notice that most of the atoms have no neutrons, some of them have one neutron and a few of them have two neutrons. These different versions of hydrogen are called isotopes. All isotopes of a particular element have the same number of protons, but can have different numbers of neutrons. If you change the number of protons an atom has, you change the type of element it is. If you change the number of neutrons an atom has, you make an isotope of that element. All known elements are arranged on a chart called the Periodic Table of Elements.
ImagineImagineImagine going to an ice cream store. Let's say that they have 30 different flavors of ice cream. Those are elements, the things that I have available to build my dessert from. The smallest amount of ice cream that the store will sell to me is a scoop. This is an atom. If I want, I can put two or more scoops of ice cream together. This is a molecule. If my molecule has more than one flavor of ice cream, I can call it a compound.
So, in summary:
element - a basic substance that can't be simplified (hydrogen, oxygen, gold, etc...)
atom - the smallest amount of an element
molecule - two or more atoms that are chemically joined together (H2, O2, H2O, etc...)
compound - a molecule that contains more than one element (H2O, C6H12O6, etc...)
What's wrong with the ice cream analogy? Splitting an atom creates different elements (split an oxygen atom and you don't have oxygen any longer). Splitting a scoop of ice cream results in smaller blobs of the same flavor. For the analogy to hold true, the flavor of the ice cream would have to change when you split a scoop (the chocolate 'element' would have to change into some other 'element' (flavor)).
