Diatomic molecules are molecules composed of only two atoms, of the same or different chemical elements. The prefix di- is of Greek origin, meaning “two”. Otherwise, if a diatomic molecule consists of two different atoms, such as carbon monoxide (CO) or nitric oxide (NO), the molecule is said to be heteronuclear.

Molecule: group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds. So, minimum 2 atoms are required to form a molecule.

An element is made up of one type of atom only and cannot be split further. Molecules are always formed when atoms combine. A molecule always contains different kinds of atoms.

Molecules are made up of atoms that are held together by chemical bonds. These bonds form as a result of the sharing or exchange of electrons among atoms. The atoms of certain elements readily bond with other atoms to form molecules. Examples of such elements are oxygen and chlorine.

The aptly named titin weighs in at a molecular weight of 3 million and consists of a continuous chain of 27,000 amino acids, making it 20 to 50 times larger than the average-size protein. Like the Titans of Greek mythology, titin is known not only for its size but for its strength.

This, believe it or not, is a microscope. It can help us see very small particles like molecules by feeling the particle with the tip of its needle. These very powerful microscopes are called atomic force microscopes, because they can see things by feeling the forces between atoms. …

Originally Answered: Which is the largest molecule which is a part of the human body? The biggest molecule in nature remains in your body. It is chromosome 1. A normal human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes in its nucleus, each a single, very long, molecule of DNA.

In fact, even the most powerful light-focusing microscopes can’t visualise single atoms. Atoms are so much smaller than the wavelength of visible light that the two don’t really interact. To put it another way, atoms are invisible to light itself.

The smallest molecule is diatomic hydrogen (H2), with a bond length of 0.74 angstroms.

quarks

DNA

In physical sciences, subatomic particles are smaller than atoms. They can be composite particles, such as the neutron and proton; or elementary particles, which according to the standard model are not made of other particles. Particle physics and nuclear physics study these particles and how they interact.

The standard measure of length in science is in meters (m). One nanometer (1 nm) is equal to 10-9 m or 0.000000001 m. A nanometer is 10 times smaller than the width of your DNA, and 10 times bigger than the size of an atom.

Splitting an atom is called nuclear fission, and the repeated splitting of atoms in fission is called a chain reaction. Scientists split atoms in order to study atoms and the smaller parts they break into. This is not a process that can be carried out at home.

Atoms cannot be created nor destroyed, and they are indestructible; they cannot be broken into smaller parts. This was based on the Law of Conservation of Mass.

A knife cannot cut anything smaller than the blade of a knife. Since knives are made out of atoms, they can’t cut atoms. The splitting of atoms in atomic bombs happens as a result of a different process. However, even these atoms can’t be cut with a knife, because the atoms are smaller than the knife is.

This process is called nuclear fission. The energy released in splitting just one atom is miniscule. However, when the nucleus is split under the right conditions, some stray neutrons are also released and these can then go on to split more atoms, releasing more energy and more neutrons, causing a chain reaction.

The fission process becomes self-sustaining as neutrons produced by the splitting of atom strike nearby nuclei and produce more fission. This is known as a chain reaction and is what causes an atomic explosion.

Quarks are fundamental particles and cannot be split.

Walton, working jointly at the Cavendish Laboratory, were the first to split the atom when they bombarded lithium with protons generated by a type of particle accelerator (dubbed a “Cockcroft-Walton machine”) and changed the resulting lithium nucleus into two helium nuclei.

When an atom is split, three types of radiation that can damage living tissues are released. Alpha particles are made up of protons and neutrons and cannot penetrate human skin, but do damage if released inside a body. All types of radiation damage living tissues through a process called ionization.

Switzerland

Democritus

Robert Oppenheimer

Atomic bombs are made up of a fissile element, such as uranium, that is enriched in the isotope that can sustain a fission nuclear chain reaction. When a free neutron hits the nucleus of a fissile atom like uranium-235 (235U), the uranium splits into two smaller atoms called fission fragments, plus more neutrons.

The radiation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki today is on a par with the extremely low levels of background radiation (natural radioactivity) present anywhere on Earth. It has no effect on human bodies.

Nuclear fission produces the atomic bomb, a weapon of mass destruction that uses power released by the splitting of atomic nuclei. When a single free neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom of radioactive material like uranium or plutonium, it knocks two or three more neutrons free.

7 billion billion billion atoms