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atom

All matter we encounter in everyday life consists of smallest units called atoms – the air we breath consists of a wildly careening crowd of little groups of atoms, my computer’s keyboard of a tangle of atom chains, the metal surface it rests on is a crystal lattice of atoms. All the variety of matter consists of less than hundred species of atoms (in other words: less than a hundred different chemical elements).

Every atom consists of an nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons. Nearly all of the atom’s mass is concentrated in its nucleus, while the structure of the electron cloud determines how the atom can bind to other atoms (in other words: its chemical properties). Every chemical element can be defined via a characteristic number of protons in its nucleus. Atoms that have lost some of their usual number of electrons are called ions. Atoms are extremely small (typical diametres are in the region of tenths of a billionth of a metre = 10^-10 metres), and to describe their properties and behaviour, one has to resort to quantum theory.

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surface

Geometric space with two dimensions. Examples include the plane or the surface of a sphere.

matter

In general relativity: All contents of spacetime that contribute to its curvature: particles, dust, gases, fluids, electromagnetic and other fields. In particle physics: All elementary particles with half-integer spin, such as electrons and quarks, as well as their composites such as protons and neutrons, in contrast with force particles.

atom

All matter we encounter in everyday life consists of smallest units called atoms - the air we breath consists of a wildly careening crowd of little groups of atoms, my computer's keyboard of a tangle of atom chains, the metal surface it rests on is a crystal lattice of atoms. All the variety of matter consists of less than hundred species of atoms (in other words: less than a hundred different chemical elements). Every atom consists of an nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons. Nearly all of the atom's mass is concentrated in its nucleus, while the structure of the electron cloud determines how the atom can bind to other atoms (in other words: its chemical properties). Every chemical element can be defined via a characteristic number of protons in its nucleus. Atoms that have lost some of their usual number of electrons are called ions. Atoms are extremely small (typical diametres are in the region of tenths of a billionth of a metre = 10^-10 metres), and to describe their properties and behaviour, one has to resort to quantum theory.

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atom

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