
Originally Posted by
dedshaw1612
its just everything is bundled in different numbers of them.
Since Dywyddyr answered the primary question, I wanted to focus on this bit.
It's not just the numbers, that lead to the properties in raw elements. It's the structure and given balanced energy of the system.
I may not have worded that well...
But- you have hydrogen, right? 1 of each. (To keep it simple.)
Proceed up the line- and you'll get to carbon... which also keeps it simple. Because of the valence bonds (
Molecular orbital theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) an element (one atom sample) has - in this case for carbon- Four. The structure of Carbon is different and how it will interact with other atoms, electrons etc. is also different because of this. The electrons will also drop or raise up on orbits, from a higher energy orbit, to a lower energy orbit. This also influences how outside energy can transfer, transform or act on the atomic structure.
So, it's not just about how many of what there are, but what those additional protons or electrons do for the structure and behavior of the atom.