Chemistry of Life

Chemistry of Life

What are our bodies made of? The first thought that comes to my mind is blood, tissues, and water, but in reality the smallest level in our bodies are atoms. Sometimes we hear more about molecules rather than atoms which are just a little bit bigger groups of atoms. In a basic atom there are three main parts; protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons are positive, neutrons are neutral, and electrons are negative. There are four common elements to all living organisms; Oxygen (O), Nitrogen (N), Carbon (C), and Hydrogen (H). An atom consist of two regions the first is the tiny atomic nucleus which is the smallest part of the atom where the positively charged protons and the neutrally charged neutrons are located. The second larger part of the atom is called the electron cloud, it is where the negatively charged electrons are located and they orbit around the atomic nucleus. The attraction between the positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons holds the atom together. Most atoms contain all three of these types of subatomic particle, protons, electrons, and neutrons. Hydrogen (H) is an exception because it typically has one proton and one electron, but no neutrons. The number of protons in the nucleus determines which element an atom is, while the number of electrons surrounding the nucleus determines which kind of reactions the atom will undergo.

Every atom has a set number of protons and the number of protons determine what atom you're looking at. For example, an element that has 6 protons is a Carbon element. The number of protons in an atom is called the atomic number. And to get the atomic mass you add the number of protons and neutrons together. If you want to get the number of electrons and atom has you subtract the number of protons from the mass number. Atomic mass is the total mass of an atom. For example, Carbon-12 contains six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons;