Glossary Welcome antipodal atom Bach, Johann Sebastian bandwidth Big Bang Theory Buddha Buddhism catalyst cell Church cross-pollinate Dervish Deuter Earth Ekagrata electron epiphanic extrapolate fractal hadith hologram Khan, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Pir Zia Kirlian photography light year magnetic field maya molecule Mosque n-dimensional Nirvana Nirvitarka peri-personal perspicacity Pir o Murshid quintessence Reincarnation retina Samadhi Satipathana Shabistari, Mahmood stalwart Synagogue transducer Vichara Vitarka wave interference atom           Go back Science Once thought to be the smallest indivisible building block of matter, the atom derives it's name from the Greek for indivisible: atomos, a- (not) + tomos (cutting). The atom, now known to be a system of smaller parts, consists fundamentally of three things: protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons and neutrons, considered to be different states of the same particle, form the positively charged nucleus which accounts for 99.9% of the atom's mass. Creating a cloud of negative charge around the nucleus are the much lighter electrons which can be shared with other atoms, forming the chemical bonds that hold molecules together. Atoms exist in just over 100 forms, depeding on the size of the nucleus, and are known to us as elements, like gold and hydrogen. "If the electron cloud of the iron atom Fe were expanded to the size of a football field, the nucleus would be represented by a pea-sized ball 4 mm in diameter, of mass 6 million tons, and the electrons would be represented by 26 mosquitoes of mass 120 tons each, flying around the pea at distances ranging up to 50 meters."—College Physics