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Atomic Structure - Video Lesson

Hey, everybody. Welcome to today's lesson about the basic principles of MRI. This lesson focuses on atoms and how the motion of atoms enable MRI technology to visualize the human body. Atoms are the smallest units of matter. All matter is made up of atoms. Atoms consist of three subatomic particles, electrons, which have a negative charge, protons, which have a positive charge, and neutrons, which have no charge. Protons and neutrons reside in the nucleus of an atom and can also be called nucleons. Electrons orbit around the nucleus. The nucleus is very small, but it contains most of an atom's mass. Atoms can be characterized by their atomic number and their mass number or atomic weight. The atomic number is the number of protons in the atom's nucleus. An atom's atomic number defines the element. For example, an