The smallest unit of an element, consisting of at least one proton and (for all elements except hydrogen) one or more neutrons in a dense central nucleus, surrounded by one or more shells of electrons. In electrically neutral atoms, the number of protons equals the number of electrons.
By the time the Vesuvius eruption sputtered to an end the next day, Pompeii was buried under millions of tons of volcanic ash. About 2,000 people were dead. Some people drifted back to town in search of lost relatives or belongings, but there was not much left to find.
In the past, Mount Vesuvius has had a roughly 20-year eruption cycle, but the last serious eruption was in 1944. Vesuvius and Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city of Pompeii in A.D. 79. Because the city was buried so quickly by volcanic ash, the site is a well-preserved snapshot of life in a Roman city.WII eruption. On March 18, 1944, a two-week-long eruption began with lava from the summit of Mount Vesuvius. Soldiers and airmen of the 340th Bomber Group were stationed at the Pompeii Airfield just a few miles from the base of the volcano.