Atom Chemistry Example 4

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Example 4

easy
If you keep dividing a piece of copper into smaller and smaller pieces, what is the smallest unit that still retains copper's chemical properties?

Solution

  1. 1
    The smallest unit that still behaves chemically like copper is one copper atom.
  2. 2
    If you go smaller than an atom, you are separating the subatomic particles and no longer have something with the chemical identity of copper.

Answer

A copper atom.
An atom is the smallest unit of an element that still keeps that element's chemical properties. Subatomic particles alone do not behave like the original element.

About Atom

The smallest unit of an element that retains the chemical properties of that element.

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