What Is an Element?

What Is an Element?If you are planning to learn Chemistry, you might want to know what an element is. An element is the smallest constituent of the universe, according to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. To put it simply, an element is a unit of measurement that is composed of more than one element. In chemistry, a metal, for example, is an element that consists of at least one element, either iron or another metal, and many others.If we go to the center of the universe, the center of everything, we would find atoms, which are solid particles consisting of protons and neutrons. If all of these atoms are present, they would have the same properties.As you can see, the metal is composed of atoms, but the atoms are solid form rather than liquid form. Elements are not solid at all, they are just tiny collections of protons and neutrons with varying numbers of electrons that are 'packed' tightly together.Some elements consist of different numbers of electrons. Such elements are very heavy and they would not be used for a commonly used alloy as they would be too heavy. On the other hand, some elements, such as Oxygen, which is found in abundance, consist of more than three electrons.The number of atoms present in an element determines its atomic number, which is shown on the periodic table. However, these numbers, which are listed at the top, are not completely accurate.There are about 1,600 known elements in the world, and some of them are harder to find than others. The hardest element to make would be diamonds, which is made of two oxygen atoms bonded together. Fortunately, there are a lot of examples where we can see how chemistry has given us new kinds of elements and how it has changed our life and our civilization. It is amazing how powerful, by just the fact that we know of a certain element, we can understand what it does. The elements allow us to better understand the universe and the forces that act upon it. And that is what makes chemistry so interesting.