A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

What is the role of a proton in an atom?

Best Answers

Electric charge is a property of certain particles, such as electrons, protons, and quarks (yes, quarks) that describes how they interact with each other. There are two different types of electric charge, somewhat arbitrarily named positive and negative (much like the four cardinal directions are named north, south, east, and west). read more

Some atoms don't "need" neutrons - The hydrogen atom does not have any neutrons. However, as the atomic number ( # of protons ) increases, the number of neutrons increases as well. Protons don't like each other. Naturally, 'positive charges repel', so it wouldn't be possible to have more than one proton in the nucleus. read more

What differentiates different element atoms is the number of protons in the nucleus; the only atom with one proton in its nucleus is Hydrogen (and conversely, all Hydrogen atoms have one and only one proton in their nuclei), the only atom with two protons is Helium and so forth. read more

Encyclopedia Research

Wikipedia: