Based on what you have just read, why is studying atoms and their parts and particles to people?

Many accounts of the atom begin with a history of the growth in scientists' understanding of its structure, but here we will take the opposite approach, first discussing the atom in terms of what physicists and chemists today understand. Only then will we examine the many challenges scientists faced in developing the current atomic model: false starts, wrong theories, right roads not taken, incomplete models. In addition, we will explore the many insights added along the way as, piece by piece, the evidence concerning atomic behavior began to accumulate. People who are not scientifically trained tend to associate studies of the atom with physics, not chemistry. While it is true that physicists study atomic structure, and that much of what scientists know today about atoms comes from the work of physicists, atomic studies are even more integral to chemistry than to physics. At heart, chemistry is about the interaction of different atomic and molecular structures: their properties, their reactions, and the ways in which they bond.

It won't lose or gain electrons if it's a covalent bond it shares the electrons with another atom or atoms. if it is an ionic bond it will lose the 3 electrons on the outer shell and become a positively charged ion.  credit goes to @sunshinebaby of answers.yahoo.com.