Atom

From Slackerpedia Galactica

http://i12.tinypic.com/680ar7t.jpg Ecology has Captain Planet but physics has Captain Atom!

While an atom is quite the direct opposite in terms of size from the objects that astronomers and cosmologists usually observe, these little ex-fundamental particles of the universe that drift around in the space between stars and near stars figure in greatly for nice little concepts such as The Big Bang and countless other features of both astronomy and physics. Since all matter is made up of them, there's no escaping the little buggers.

First imagined way back in Grecian times, real work to change this concept into a theory did not begin until the Renaissance. In the early 20th Century, people thought of atoms as either scary things that blew up or little solar system.

Now, people know that atoms are almost the smallest particles to exist and make up molecules which then make up all kinds of stuff thanks to scientific education from the grammar school level on the subject. However, people are taught to think of atoms as "little families" which is quite disturbing considering that it implies analogies of polygamy and incest once those atomic numbers start going up.

Regardless, an atom is made up of the three following subatomic particles:

• Protons Think of them as resting at the middle of of the atom and having a postive charge.

• Neutrons Lazy freeloaders also residing at the nucleus, these particles have a neutral charge but should not be confused with neutrinos.

• Electrons Surprisingly, an atom is mostly empty space and you'll be going far on a microscopic level from the nucleus before you run into these well-known negatively charged particles that orbit the nucleus.

These days, thanks to new discoveries and String Theory, we know that atoms are not the most fundamental particles of the universe. That honor belongs to the quark and the lepton although these are in in turn, made up of those string things that is still the subject of much much debate.