Particles

Everything around us is made of very small pieces called particles

The smallest particles around as is atoms , these are very small particles that cannot be broken down further by any chemical means

• In some substances, the particles are just single atoms.

   For example argon, a gas found in air, is made up of single argon atoms.

  
  you can see in the picture how each atom is separate from the others in the argon gas

   

• In many substances, the particles consist of two or more atoms joined together. These particles are called molecules. Water, bromine, and the gases nitrogen and oxygen in air, are made up of molecules.

  
  you can see the previous picture for a water molecules , each water molecule is represented by one red ball (indicating the oxygen atom ) joined to two white balls (indicating the hydrogen atoms)  so each water particle is called a molecule , each molecule is made of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen)

   

• In other substances the particles consist of atoms or groups of atoms that carry a charge. These particles are called ions. Potassium manganate(VII) is made of ions.