Atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and typically a similar number of neutrons. Protons and neutrons are called nucleons. More than 99.94% of an atom's mass is in the nucleus. The protons have a positive electric charge, the electrons have a negative electric charge, and the neutrons have no electric charge. If the number of protons and electrons are equal, that atom is electrically neutral. If an atom has more or fewer electrons than protons, then it has an overall negative
Hot atom Hot atom In physical chemistry, a hot atom is an atom that has a high kinetic or internal energy. When molecule AB adsorbs on a surface dissociatively, In case 2, B gains a high translational energy from the adsorption energy of A, and hot atom B is generated. For example, the hydrogen molecule, because of its light mass, gets a high translational energy. Such a hot atom does not fly into vacuum but is trapped on the surface, where it diffuses with high energy. Hot atoms are expected to play important roles in catalytic reactions. For example, a reaction of