Student spotlight: what is an atom?

This article was researched and written by Stevie Girasole. Great work Stevie! 

Atoms are the basic building blocks of ordinary matter. Atoms can join together to form molecules, which in turn form most of the objects around you. Atoms are composed of particles called protons, electrons and neutrons, according to Oxford English online dictionary.

As you can see from the diagram above, atoms are inside the nucleus all bundled up with protons and neutrons to form ordinary matter. The electron moves around the nucleus in a somewhat circular motion.

There are ninety naturally occurring types of atoms, and scientists have discovered how to make around twenty more.

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/just-how-small-is-an-atom