hydrogen
Chat with our AI personalities
Not only that, but it's one of lightest, or possibly the lightest, gas in the world. I'm a nerd, so you can trust me.
Many people might think the answer to this question would be an atom, but not in life. The structures go like this from largest to smallest: Ecosystem, Community, Organism, Organ system, Organ, Tissue, Cell.
The smallest atom is hydrogen.
An electron is a sub-atomic particle, not an atom. But it is electrically charged (it has a charge of minus one). The simplest atom, the hydrogen one isotope, has just one proton and one electron. An electron is a part of an atom. Every atom is composed of protons and electrons. Usually there are also neutrons. Protons are positively charged +1 and electrons are charged -1. Neutrons are neutral. When the number of protons and electrons are equal the atom is neutral. When an atom has an unequal number of protons and electrons it is charged either - or +. More electrons make it - and more protons make it +. In both cases the atom is called an ion.
In our known universe, hydrogen then helium. But this may change with further exploration.