Name the Smallest Particles of an element which may or may not exist on its own
Answers
Atom is the smallest particles of an element which may or may not exist on its own.
History:
In the past, several attempts have been made to understand the structure of atoms.
The Greeks believed that fire, water, air, earth and sky constituted the primary building blocks of all materials. The properties of any particular material or substance (matter) were believed to be due to the different composition or ratio of these five primary elements in that substance.
The great Indian sage, Maharishi Kanada was perhaps the first to suggest that all matter, irrespective of its physical state, is composed of very small particles, called anu. Also, he believed that the anu may be made up of sub particles, he called them, paramanu.
Democritus, a Greek philosopher, followed the theories of his teacher, Leucippus. He explained that all matter consists of indivisible particles, called atomos, meaning uncut or indivisible in Greek.
All these ancient theories were based on abstract thinking and not on experimentation. For about 2000 years, the atomic theory related to structure of an atom remained a mere speculation. It was John Dalton, an English school teacher, who propounded his theory of atoms based on chemical laws of combination known at that time (1803-1808). Ideas about atom and its properties held today are results of many modifications to the idea of John Dalton.
Answer:
quark is the smallest particle in the world that is ever discovered.