What is everything made of?

Look at your hand, a table, a glass of water. If you could zoom in far enough, you would find that they are all made of tiny building blocks called atoms.

Atoms are unbelievably small. The dot at the end of this sentence has more atoms in it than you could ever count.

Each atom has a middle part called the nucleus. It is made of two kinds of pieces, protons and neutrons. Even tinier pieces called electrons zoom around the outside.

The number of protons decides what kind of atom you have. One proton makes hydrogen, the smallest atom. Six protons make carbon, which is in pencil lead and in every living thing. Ten protons make neon, the gas that glows in colorful signs.

Atoms stick together in different ways to make everything in the world. Only about ninety kinds of atoms are found in nature, and they build everything you can see.