The aim in this context is to clarify the most frequent questions about atomic structure.
Atom bricks
We can compare atoms with building bricks, they unite to originate molecules, these by in turn would be the walls that fit together to give shape to houses (smaller compounds) and buildings (composites larger). This explanation, at the infantile level, is not enough when doubts about atomic divisibility arise.
If we could split an atom, how far would that be possible? Would there come a time when this one would be so small that it would no longer be possible to divide it? The answer to this question has already been clarified by Dalton, according to him, the atomic division has a limit which is not exceeded, are the so-called "fundamental bricks of atoms", these do not subdivide.
chameleon atom
If the atom changed its characteristics according to the compound it is in, such as the oxygen found in air, it would not be the same found in the water molecule (H2O). Hmm???
"Atoms are immutable”, the so-called chameleon effect does not apply to atomic theory, since each oxygen atom is exactly the same, regardless of whether it is found in the water we drink or the air we breathe.
Atom walls
But once the bricks are useful to explain atomic rearrangement. The walls, where bricks are joined to give different shapes, resemble the way atoms group together into molecules participating in a reaction. These molecules would be like walls of atoms, where the important thing is the union between them and not the position they occupy.
Thus, atoms can even change position when reacting with others, but the number of atoms remains the same from the beginning to the end of the chemical reaction. It is what defines the law of composition proposed by John Dalton in 1803, this theory explains the conservation of mass in reactions.
By Líria Alves
Graduated in Chemistry
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/quimica/estudo-comparativo-atomo.htm