The atom thing (Garg et al. 2014); element is a type of thing.
An atom is a collection of protons, neutrons and electrons. One isolated atom in the neutral state has a certain number of protons, the same number of electrons and a certain number of neutrons (about the same number as protons for lighter elements, which is about 50% more for heavier elements). The number of neutrons or protons in an atom only changes as a result of radioactive processes or very high energy interactions such as you get in particle accelerators. And I mean really high energy: Even if you think about blowing up sticks of dynamite, that's not enough energy to start fiddling with protons and neutrons. Chemistry happens when atoms come together and exchange electrons or give electrons to each other. Chemical reactions happen all the time, and many of them don't require much energy: moving electrons from atom to atom is often very simple.
So, the chemistry of an atom depends on the number of electrons, and the number of electrons in an isolated atom depends directly on the number of protons. Electrons are so easy to add and remove from atoms (just rub a balloon on your hair: static electricity is what you transferred electrons between your hair and the balloon) so we classify atoms according to the number of protons they have. Neutrons are not so relevant: I will talk about them at the end.
So the element an atom is determined by the number of protons. All hydrogen atoms have one proton, and all atoms with one proton are hydrogen. Two protons is helium, three is lithium, seventeen is chlorine, 79 is gold, etc. A pure sample of an element contains only atoms of this type: for example, a pure sample of iron contains only atoms with 26 protons. On the other hand, water is not an element: the water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms (one proton each) sharing electrons with an oxygen atom (eight protons).
Now, what does it mean to say that an element "cannot be broken down into a simpler form" and why aren't atoms a "simpler form"? Well, they're not a simpler shape, because the iron atom - iron: this is the same form, not simpler. Think of it this way. If I give you a piece of pure iron, all you can do is break it up into smaller pieces of iron, or make it into a more complex substance, for example, by allowing it to rust. Rust is made up of iron and oxygen. The smallest possible piece of iron you could make is a single atom of iron, but it's still just an incredibly tiny piece of iron. If you wanted to break a piece of iron beyond individual iron atoms, you would need to use a nuclear reactor or a particle accelerator or something, and then finally you could get something that wasn't iron because you would change the number of protons in atoms.
Let's compare this to water. If I give you a bucket of pure water, then like a piece of iron, you can divide it into smaller and smaller samples, eventually getting a single water molecule. But you can do something else: if you run electricity through water, it splits into pure hydrogen and pure oxygen. These are "simpler" substances because each is made up of atoms of only one element, while water has atoms of two elements.
What about neutrons? Well, in terms of chemistry, they don't do much, and atoms with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons are much more similar (they have essentially the same chemistry, for example) than atoms that have the same number of neutrons, but a different number of protons. It is much more appropriate to classify by the number of protons, as this determines the number of electrons and determines the chemistry.
Suppose you tried to classify atoms according to the number of neutrons. Well, most argon atoms (18 protons) have 22 neutrons, but some chlorine atoms (17 protons) and a good proportion of potassium atoms (19 protons) also have 22 neutrons. As you probably know, argon, chlorine and potassium are absolutely nothing like each other. On the other hand, potassium atoms with 22 neutrons behave almost identically to the most common kind of potassium atoms, which have 21 neutrons.
The ancient Greeks knew that all substances are composed of particles. Around 420 BC e. The philosopher Democritus suggested that matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles called atoms. All substances are made up of atoms and molecules. Both the atom and the molecule were initially considered indivisible, and only later it was proved that this was not the case. How is an atom different from a molecule.
atoms are the smallest particles that make up matter.
molecules are also the elementary particles that make up any substance.
Comparison of atom and molecule
What is the difference between an atom and a molecule?
An atom is an elementary particle of matter. It has its own mass and size and is responsible for the properties of this substance, as a chemical element. An atom consists of a nucleus and electrons that move in their orbits around the nucleus. It is the structure of the atom that determines the chemical properties of matter. Atoms do not occur in the free state. They bind to each other and form molecules due to the electrical charges of the particles of which they are composed.
A molecule is what a substance is made of. Molecules can contain two or more atoms, which are interconnected by interatomic bonds. More precisely, we can say that the molecule consists of atomic nuclei and internal electrons that move in their orbits, as well as external valence electrons. Different molecules contain a different number of atoms of a certain type and a different number. The molecule has a complex architectural structure, where each atom has its place and its well-defined neighbors. The properties of a molecule are determined by how many atoms it contains. These properties are affected by the order and configuration of the connection of atoms. The atomic structure that makes up a molecule may be rigid, but not in all cases. Each atom is in constant motion, it oscillates around its equilibrium position. In this case, a free molecule in the process of its thermal motion has different configurations. A molecule is electrically a neutral particle. It is the smallest particle of a substance that has its chemical properties. In the case of monatomic molecules, such as inert gases, the properties of the molecule and the atom are the same. The atoms in a molecule are held together by chemical bonds. Such a bond can be created by one or more pairs of electrons shared by two atoms. A molecule can exist on its own.
How is an atom different from a molecule
Atoms form a molecule. An atom consists of a nucleus and electrons that move in their orbits around the nucleus.
Molecules are made up of atoms.
An atom has an electrical charge, while a molecule is neutral.
Only a molecule can exist on its own.
In translation, "atom" means indivisible. It is named so because for a long time it was considered the smallest part of matter. But the further development of science has shown that this is not so. So, let's figure out what an atom consists of and how the atoms of various elements differ.
The structure of the atom
To date, science knows 126 types of chemical elements. The general plan of the structure of their atoms is the same. Each of them has a nucleus, consisting of protons and neutrons, around which electrons revolve. Electrons are negatively charged particles. When they rotate around the nucleus, an electron cloud is formed.
Protons are positively charged particles. At rest, an atom contains the same number of protons and electrons, so such a chemical element has no electric charge. However, in the process of reactions, it can give an electron to other elements, turning into a positively charged particle, or take them away, becoming a negatively charged particle. Neutrons do not carry any charge, but they affect the mass of an element. For protons and neutrons, a unifying name was coined - nucleons.
Atoms of various elements
Atoms of different elements differ from each other in the number of protons in the nucleus. The number of electrons can change, but protons never. How many protons are contained in the nucleus, you can find out by the serial number of the element in the periodic system of Mendeleev. Hydrogen (No. 1) has 1 electron and 1 proton at rest, lithium 
(No. 3) - 3 electrons and 3 protons, carbon (No. 6) - 6 electrons and 6 protons.
Since the number of protons in different atoms is different, their masses also differ. The mass of an element is mainly formed by protons and neutrons, because the weight of electrons is negligible. But even for atoms of the same element, the weight may differ due to the different number of neutrons in the nucleus. Atoms that have a different number of neutrons than protons are called isotopes. For example, in nature there are carbon atoms C12 (6 protons and 6 neutrons), C13 (6 protons and 7 neutrons) and other varieties with a neutron content from 2 to 16.
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Atom and ion are elementary particles of chemical elements. These particles are the carriers of the properties of the elements. They differ in charges: the atom is neutral, and the ion is positively or negatively charged.
Definition
Atom- an electrically neutral microscopic particle of a chemical element that determines its properties. The center of an atom is a positively charged nucleus surrounded by an electron cloud, along whose orbitals electrons move. Atoms, by gaining or giving up electrons, turn into ions.
ions- microscopic electrically charged, monatomic or polyatomic and chemically active particles. They have a positive (cations) or negative (anions) charge. Ions are formed from atoms or groups of atoms that gain electrons or, conversely, lose them.
Ions are independent particles that occur in any state of aggregation. They are found in gases (in the atmosphere), in crystals, in liquids (both solutions and melts) and in plasma (interstellar space.)
Ions in chemical reactions are able to interact with each other, with molecules and atoms. In solutions, these active particles are formed in the process of electrolytic dissociation and determine the properties of electrolytes.
Comparison
An atom is always electrically neutral, an ion, on the contrary, is a charged particle. In atoms, the external energy levels, as a rule, are not completed (the group of noble gases is an exception). For ions, the outer levels are completed.
An ion, in contrast to an atom, is not capable of possessing the properties of a simple substance. For example, metallic potassium enters into a violent reaction with water, the products of which are hydrogen and alkali. And potassium ions, which are present in the composition of potassium salts, do not have similar properties. Chlorine is a yellow-green toxic gas, and its ions are non-toxic and colorless.
The color of copper is red, and its ions in solutions acquire a blue color. Iodine crystals are gray, vapors are purple, alcohol solution is red-brown, mixed with starch it gives a blue color. Iodine ions cannot change the color of starch, they are colorless.
Findings site
- Atoms and ions of the same chemical element have different numbers of electrons.
- The charge of atoms is zero, for ions it can be positive or negative.
- Ions and atoms have different redox properties.
What is the difference between "atom" and "molecule"? and got the best answer
Answer from Sunrise[expert]
the atom is smaller, there can be several atoms in one molecule (example - 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom = water molecule)
Answer from Diana Mamina[guru]
A molecule is made up of atoms.
Answer from NO[guru]
In addition to common places, also by birth.
Answer from aerial[newbie]
An atom is an electrically neutral system of interacting elements, consisting of a nucleus and electrons. , and a molecule is a compound consisting of 2 or more atoms
Answer from Durchlaucht Furst[guru]
Atom (other Greek ἄτομος - indivisible) - the smallest part of a chemical element, which is the carrier of its properties. An atom consists of an atomic nucleus and an electron cloud surrounding it. The nucleus of an atom consists of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons, and the surrounding cloud consists of negatively charged electrons. If the number of protons in the nucleus coincides with the number of electrons, then the atom as a whole is electrically neutral. Otherwise, it has some positive or negative charge and is called an ion. Atoms are classified according to the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus: the number of protons determines whether an atom belongs to a certain chemical element, and the number of neutrons determines the isotope of this element.
Atoms of various types in various quantities, connected by interatomic bonds, form molecules.
The concept of an atom as the smallest indivisible part of matter was first formulated by ancient Indian and ancient Greek philosophers (see: atomism). In the 17th and 18th centuries, chemists were able to experimentally confirm this idea by showing that certain substances could not be further broken down into their constituent elements by chemical methods. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, physicists discovered subatomic particles and the composite structure of the atom, and it became clear that the atom is not really "indivisible."
Molecule (Novolatin molecula, diminutive of Latin moles - mass) - the smallest particle of a substance that carries its chemical properties.
A molecule consists of two or more atoms, is characterized by the number of atomic nuclei and electrons included in it, as well as a certain structure.
It is usually understood that the molecules are neutral (carry no electric charges) and do not carry unpaired electrons (all valences are saturated); charged molecules are called ions, molecules with a multiplicity other than unity (that is, with unpaired electrons and unsaturated valences) are called radicals.
Molecules formed by hundreds or thousands of atoms are called macromolecules. Features of the structure of molecules determine the physical properties of a substance consisting of these molecules.
Answer from Mariam Abdullah[newbie]
atoms still have an electric charge, while the molecule is neutral
Answer from Murvat Kazymov[newbie]
an atom is what a molecule is made of
