What Does the Structure of an Atom Look Like?
Although atoms cannot be divided without altering their chemical nature, they have subatomic structures. The structure of an atom is composed of three types of particles that are differently charged. Investigation into atomic structure is a relatively recent field, but knowledge of the atom itself dates back to ancient India and Greece. History jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘#jsArticleStep1 span.image a:first’).attr(‘href’,’http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4674137/93153_Full.jpg’); }); Ancient Indian schools originated atomic theory in the sixth century B.C.E. The term “atom” comes from ancient Greek philosophy. The Greek atomists theorized that atoms were the essential building blocks of all reality and could not be broken down any further. It was not until the early twentieth century that physicists built upon earlier particle theory and discovered that atoms have differing properties. This led to the discovery of isotopes, atoms that belong to the same eleme