"I even remember what's in an atom," Stef continued.
"Protons, electrons, and neutrons, of course," Spruce threw in before she could continue. She curled her lips in a way that said she was contemplating throwing something at him. "Ah, but do you remember which particles are in the nucleus and which ones are swirling around the space above like planets around the sun."
"HA!" She fired back. "The electrons outside the nucleus don't really swirl. They're more like force fields and you never know exactly where they're at. You only can say where they are probably at, so there."
"And which particle is the biggest and which is the smallest?" he asked with a smirky grin she wanted to smack off his face.
"The electron is way smaller than the other two and has a negative charge," she answered confidently.
"Yeah, so which particle in the nucleus is bigger?" he persisted.
"Ah," she hesitated. "The proton has a positive charge and the neutron doesn't have a charge. It's neutral."
"That's not what I asked," he came at her again. After she continued to play with her pasta, he finally answered it himself: "It's the neutron. In fact, it's kind of like a proton and electron put together."
She completely ignored him, not willing to give him the satisfaction of knowing something she didn't.
"So the number of which particle tells you what element it is?" he continued. She was not at all in the mood by now. She began to think about her yoga class and some of the ridiculous stretches she was working on for college credit.
Meanwhile, Spruce continued to talk to himself...
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