You have a piece of gold and you cut it into smaller pieces. If you could continue cutting, you would eventually separate the gold into tiny pieces that could no longer be divided without losing their gold-like properties. These individual component pieces are called: a. atoms b. nuclei c. molecules d. elements e. electrons

Atoms

Explanation:

Atoms are the smallest form of an element with its characteristic’s properties. If an element is broken beyond its atomic level, the elemental characteristics properties will be lost.

This is because electrons, protons and nucleus are same for all the elements only their number and arrangement within the atom decide the elemental characteristics properties.

Therefore, the correct option a, atoms.

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