Was ist Chemie Atome, Moleküle, Ionen, Isotope

What is an atom? Everything that surrounds us, what we can see, smell, taste, and feel, is made up of atoms. Even we ourselves.

Atoms are the building blocks of everything around us. Whether we touch plants, trees, buildings, or sand, everything is made of atoms. We ourselves are composed of countless atoms, as are the wind that blows against us, the sun, the planets, or the moon. You can think of atoms as tiny building blocks. When we have a pure substance (a chemical element) in front of us (e.g., a piece of iron), all the atoms in that piece are structured the same way.

Atoms always consist of a nucleus and an electron shell. The shell is made up of electrons that constantly orbit the nucleus. Electrons are negatively charged. The nucleus, in turn, consists of protons, which are positively charged, and neutrons, which have no charge. We cannot see atoms with the naked eye, but scientists can study their effects. Atoms always have the same number of protons and electrons, which is why they appear electrically neutral from the outside. The number of protons (and thus also electrons) in the atom determines which chemical element is formed. Hydrogen has 1 proton and 1 electron in all its atoms, while the aforementioned iron has 26 protons and 26 electrons.