Question: what are protons and neotrons

Paul Stevenson answered on 17 Mar 2010:

They are two of the three things that absolutely everything we see is made up of. All things are made of atoms, and each atom can be a different element – so we get atoms of oxygen, atoms of carbon, atoms of gold and so on. These combine with each other to make molecues (like water) and then in to bigger things – cells, bones, rocks, stars, people, planets and everything we see. Atoms are made of three things: protons and neutrons, which stick together (to form a “nucleus”), are tiny, and sit at the centre of each atom, and electrons, which orbit round the protons and neutrons. By studying protons and neutrons, I’m studying the building blocks of matter.