Hydrogen-like atom

Imagine a tiny little ball which is so small that it is invisible to your naked eyes. This ball has a lot of teeny tiny things called electrons moving around it. This ball is called the nucleus.

The nucleus of a Hydrogen-like atom has a positively charged particle which is called a proton. This proton is the one who holds on to the electrons and keeps them moving around the nucleus.

The electrons, which are tiny negatively charged particles, are attracted by the positive charged proton in the nucleus. However, they don't fall into the nucleus because they are always moving around it. They stay in their paths and move really fast, just like cars on a racetrack.

Now, let's talk about "Hydrogen-like." While Hydrogen is the simplest atom, there are other atoms that act like Hydrogen. These atoms only have one electron zooming around their nucleus , just like in Hydrogen.

When you put energy into the Hydrogen-like atom, the electron gets excited and jumps to a higher orbit farther away from the nucleus. Alternatively, it can emit energy when an electron drops down to a lower orbit closer to the nucleus.

This is the basis of the study of atomic physics where scientists try to understand how atoms behave by watching how they absorb or emit energy.