• Question: What other building blocks are there other than atoms? What do they build?

    Asked by Zealousy to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 25 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Josh Meyers

      Josh Meyers answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      Depends how big/small we’re talking!
      Here’s a scale:

      Quarks make up protons.
      Protons/neutrons/electrons make up atoms.
      atoms make up molecules.
      molecules make up cells.
      cells make tissues.
      tissues make organs.
      organs make people.
      You could have a stack of people to make a human pyramid?

      Bricks/lego/puzzle pieces. These are all building blocks as well.

      The possibilities are endless.

    • Photo: Chris Armstrong

      Chris Armstrong answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      So you can go smallest with Quarks, they in various forms help build the things that then build the atoms. (Apart from electrons, they’re fundamental)

      Slightly larger than that is protons and neutrons, they help build the atoms, and ions, or even just exist on their own.

      Slightly different from that, there’s Anti-Matter. It follows pretty much the same path but they are the “opposite”. So anti quarks, build anti protons and neutrons which build anti-ions. Anti electrons (positrons) would then pair with the ions to create anti-atoms.

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