ELI5; why are we taught that atoms are the building blocks of matter when atoms are made up of smaller things?

Question

ELI5; why are we taught that atoms are the building blocks of matter when atoms are made up of smaller things?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Lego blocks are the building blocks of Lego sets but they are also made up of smaller things (plastics, dyes, etc). If you had all those things separately you wouldn’t necessarily be able to make the lego set, but using the blocks you can easily. Same with atoms, even if you had a bunch of protons, neutrons, or electrons it would be extremely difficult to make water, but if you had hydrogen and oxygen you could easily.