Atom to the positively charged nucleus by the attraction created from opposite electric charges. If an atom has more or fewer electrons than its atomic number, then it becomes respectively negatively or positively charged as a whole; a charged atom is called an ion. Electrons have been known since the late 19th century, mostly thanks to J.J. Thomson; see history of subatomic physics for details. Protons have a positive charge and a mass 1,836 times that of the electron, at . The number of protons in an atom is called its atomic number. Ernest Rutherford (1919) observed that nitrogen under alpha-particle
BASIC Atom BASIC Atom "Basic Atom" refers to a line of self-contained microcontrollers from Basic Micro. Like the Basic stamp, the Basic Atom line is based upon various microchips pre-programmed with an interpreter, making it easy to change "programs", as they are only "data" being interpreted. A compiler converts a high level language into the interpretive "code" which is then loaded in as data, and run. Basic Atom chips may be added to other projects via the familiar Dual in-line package style, or the higher density TQFP. One small Basic Atom Pro is implemented as a Single in-line package thus taking very