Question

Hey does anyone know why atoms can retain the property of element, but protons, neutrons, and electrons can't?

Answer 1

The combination of protons and neutrons and electrons apparently is enough of a recipe to create the properties of materials that we perceive such as color, texture, and hardness while anything less than that does not have those properties when a bunch of them are combined.

Answer 2

Atomic elements have properties due to the specific stable energy configuration created by protons, electrons and neutrons. To change that balance other subatomic particles must collide with the atoms, sometimes splitting them and in doing so creating new individual atomic elements. Unbounded subatomic particles do have properties, their conglomerated state is called Plasma.