They’re tiny—so small that they’re pretty much impossible to see without an incredibly powerful microscope. But without them, matter is nothing. We’re talking about atoms, by the way.
There are 118 types of atoms, and they make up everything from your eyeballs to the screen you are looking at right now. If it has mass then it is made of atoms. These atoms can be connected and arranged in all sorts of ways.
Watch this video for an introduction to matter, and the role that atoms play as matter’s basic building blocks. Then, answer the question in the Take Notes box, below. You may read the transcript to the video, and watch the segment, as many times as you like.
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The whole universe, including you, is made up of stuff. And that stuff has a fancy name: matter.
Matter is what makes up everything around us. Anything that has mass- meaning it takes up space and has stuff inside-- is matter. Whether it’s a solid, liquid or gas, if you can put it in a jar and keep it there, then it’s matter. Ice cream, gold, water, air-- these are all matter. Things like light, sound, energy --these things have no mass and you can’t keep them in a jar. These are not matter.
What makes matter matter is if you take it apart to its most basic unit you get the same type of particle every time: An atom. Even at its tiny size, it’s got mass -- “stuff” inside-- and it takes up space. Atoms form the building blocks of all matter, regardless of shape, size, or state.
So why should we care about atoms and matter? Well, the physical world around us is made up of matter, and matter is made up of atoms. And without understanding the basic gist of both of these concepts, we’d have a hard time making stuff out of them--phones, electronics, medicine, chemicals, you name it.
So whether it’s a ring on your finger or the phone in your hand, matter, and the atoms that compose it, definitely matter.
In this lesson you will learn some basic information about atoms and how they can be arranged. You’ll watch a short video that describes the relationship between atoms and matter, and then three animations that explain the different parts of atoms and how they are arranged to make elements, compounds or mixtures.
After taking notes and online quizzes, you’ll have a chance to review and organize what you’ve learned. Then you will produce your own project in which you'll describe atoms and the different ways they can be packed together and arranged.
What are three facts about atoms discussed in the video? List them in the notes box, below.