Atoms
The smallest building block of life is the electron. It is a negatively charged particle with 1/85000th the mass of a proton or neutron, but the arrangement of electrons determines many characteristics of matter.
The photon is the quanta of electromagnetic radiation (e.g. radio, light, x-rays, gamma rays). Quanta are the smallest units of something allowed.
Quarks are the smallest things in existence. A quark is an elementary particle.
Quark is the smallest particle ever discovered.
Of the three basic particles that atoms are made of, the electron is the smallest.
An atom is the smallest particle of a substance.
An atom is the smallest particle of a substance.
The smallest particle of matter still retaining the elemental properties of matter is an atom. Atoms have building blocks, and they are protons, electrons and neutrons. But the atom, because it is made of these elemental building blocks, is the furthest we can break matter down and retain the elemental structure.We can further break down the building blocks of matter, the particles that make up the atom, but the resultant particles are not stable. They spontaneously go through changes and disappear.It is not an atom it is a quark
An atom, these include protons, neutrons and electrons. The number of these smaller particles is what distingushes one atom of an element for another. For example, an atom of oxygen has 8 protons, neutrons, and electrons while a hydrogen atom has 1 proton neutron and electron
atoms
Molecule, or atom in the case of a pure elemental substance.
It is a molecule of the substance.
Molecule
If it is an element, then the smallest particle that retains the characteristics of the element is an atom. If it is a diatomic element, then the smallest particle that retains the characteristics of the element is a molecule. If it is a molecular compound, then the smallest particle that retains the characteristics of the compound is a molecule. If it is an ionic compound, the smallest particle that retains characteristics of the compound is a formula unit.
Either an atom or a molecule, depending on the substance.
The smallest particle of any substance that maintains elemental characteristics and identity is an atom. Conversely a pure elemental sample if divided indefinitely into smaller pieces would ultimately yield the atom.
an atom