It’s important that children understand from an early age that what they see with their eyes is not the fullness of reality. There is much, much more going on. So let’s talk about atoms!
What are we made of?
All matter – from insects, water and animals to planets, stars and galaxies – is made up of atoms. Atoms are the tiny building blocks of all matter, and they are truly astonishing once you start to look closely. Each atom is made up of three main types of particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons sit tightly packed at the centre of the atom in what’s called the nucleus. Electrons are much smaller and move around the nucleus in a kind of energetic cloud.
These particles are the foundation of all that is matter. Different combinations of atoms create different substances. But we can’t see individual atoms because they are extremely small. Think of a pinhead. That could fit 10 million hydrogen atoms in it. And the human body has about 7 billion billion billion atoms. That’s a 7 followed by 27 zeros. Yep, atoms are really small, and there are loads of them everywhere, all the time. But when they join together, they make things called molecules, which join together to make all the stuff in the universe, including you!
Atoms and subatomic particles are also behind much of the energy we use every day. For example, electricity is really just the movement of electrons through a wire. Heat, light, and magnetism are all related to how particles behave, how they move, and how they interact.
[…] study of colour and light. Every colour we see is a result of light being emitted or reflected by atoms. More specifically, it all comes down to electrons — the tiny, charged particles that move around […]