Ages 7-11
What is an atom?
Atoms make up everything around us. Buildings, trees, the air – even you are made of atoms.
One trillion = 1,000,000,000,000
Atoms are extremely small. Something very small, like a human hair, is made up of trillions and trillions of atoms!
There are three main pieces to an atom: protons, neutrons and electrons.
Protons and neutrons are in the centre of the atom.
Electrons spin around the centre.
As you can see, most of an atom is empty space.
In fact, most of everything around us – even though it may seem solid – is empty space!