Liceo Javier English - Advanced Level Briana Donis Fátima Alaya José Rodrigo Morales Nicolás Rodriguez Fernando Hernández Atomic theory and properties of the atomic particles Atoms: Atoms are the building blocks of matter. They are the smallest particles of an element that still have the element's properties. All the atoms of a given element are identical in that they have the same number of protons, one of the building blocks of atoms. They are also different from the atoms of all other elements, as atoms of different elements have different numbers of protons. Atoms are extremely small. The radius of an atom is well under 1 nanometer, which is one-billionth of a meter. Although all atoms are very small, elements vary in the size of their atoms. Although atoms are very tiny, they consist of even smaller particles. Three main types of particles that make up all atoms are protons, neutrons, and electrons Protons: The detective w...