Question: what are atoms made up of ?

Bernard Ennis answered on 9 Nov 2015:

You should really ask Carsten this question because that’s his field of expertise. What I can say is that atoms of made up of smaller particles (protons, neutrons and electrons), which in turn are made up of even smaller particles (and this is where you really need to speak to Carsten). At the level I work at, it’s enough to know about protons, neutrons and electrons. The atom is made up of a nucleus of protons and neutrons. Protons have a slight positive charge and neutrons have no charge. The electrons (negative charge) fly around the nucleus and there are the same amount of electrons as protons. The number of these particles determine the properties of the atoms. Each chemical element has a set number of protons (and electrons) and can have varying numbers of neutrons. The element with the lowest number is hydrogen with one proton and one electron, although it can have one, two or no neutrons.