an atom vs the atom

Asked Oct 01 '21 at 14:28

Active Oct 03 '21 at 05:19

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In Britannica's Atom term, some general sentences about an atom use "an atom", and others "the atom", why?

Sentences with "an atom":

The behaviour of an atom is strongly influenced by these orbital properties, and its chemical properties are determined by orbital groupings known as shells.

As noted in the introduction to this article, an atom consists largely of empty space.

Sentences with "the atom":

As such, the atom is the basic building block of chemistry.

Most of the atom is empty space.

Thanks

Edit:

The question does not answer my question, because in the same case of Atom (in meaning of all atoms) sometimes uses "the'' and sometimes "an''. Maybe the writer wants to emphasize by use of "the" and "an", to say it is a general case of an Atom? (Because, "the" may say specific atom, and "an" may say one of the atoms and not all, but when "the" and "an" use together for general Atom meaning, reader understand 100% that it all atoms) If this is the writer meaning, should we use this style in our formal writing? Atom in Britannica

edited Oct 03 '21 at 05:19

asked Oct 01 '21 at 14:28

Ben

1

I'd say (without more context) that the articles are interchangeable here (though consistency is a factor that needs to be considered). – Edwin Ashworth Oct 01 '21 at 14:50
See apaderno's answer at the linked question. – Andrew Leach Oct 01 '21 at 15:21
@AndrewLeach, how it answer my question? "an" an atom consists.., and in other "the" the atom is empty space.. Both sentences speak about all atoms. – Ben Oct 02 '21 at 20:14
@EdwinAshworth, please see my edit – Ben Oct 03 '21 at 05:19
See my answer at Definite and indefinite articles when referring to generic abstract {ie notional examples} objects. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 03 '21 at 14:43

an atom vs the atom

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