Is vapor pressure independent of atmospheric pressure? - this is what my instructor told me, but i don't understand why.

Vapor pressure or equilibrium vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases at a certain temperature. It is independent with atmospheric pressure since it does not change by changing the atmospheric pressure only. 

An  atom  (ours, not carroll's) consists of a positively charged  nucleus, surrounded by one or more negatively charged particles called  electrons. the positive charges equal the negative charges, so the atom has no overall charge; it is electrically neutral. most of an atom's mass is in its nucleus; the mass of an electron is only 1/1836 the mass of the lightest nucleus, that of hydrogen. although the nucleus is heavy, it is quite small compared with the overall size of an atom. the radius of a typical atom is around 0.1 to 0.25 nanometres (nm), whereas the radius of a nucleus is about 10-6  nm.  *  if an atom were enlarged to the size of the earth, its nucleus would be only 200 feet in diameter and could easily rest inside a small football stadium.read more on -

The objects are acted upon by only one force. gravity. mass times the acceleration of gravity (-9.81meters/second squared).