| Hey kids, here's some science fun to try in your | | | | centre of the atom is a big core called a nucleus, |
| kitchen: take a piece of food, like cheese, and cut it in | | | | which is made up of particles called protons and |
| half. Then you take one half, and cut it in half again. | | | | neutrons. Whizzing around that nucleus at incredible |
| And again. And again. Eventually, if you keep cutting, | | | | speeds are tiny particles called electrons, like moons |
| you'll end up with a piece that's too small to cut | | | | orbiting a giant planet. But electrons are what make |
| anymore. There is no knife sharp enough to do it! | | | | the world work the way it does. |
| Scientists have been doing experiments like this for | | | | Electrons are extremely small. You could fit 2000 of |
| thousands of years, and a man in ancient Greece | | | | them into one proton. That means if the nucleus was |
| named Democritus figured out that every single thing in | | | | the size of a coconut, one electron would be smaller |
| the universe - from the planets, to your lunch, to the | | | | than a grain of rice! But what's even more amazing is |
| clothes you're wearing, to you - must be made up of | | | | that if we were to build a scale model of an atom, and |
| tiny particles that can't be cut anymore. He called | | | | used a coconut to represent the nucleus, we would |
| these particles "atoms", which in Greek means | | | | have to put the electrons 500 metres away! That's a |
| "uncuttable". | | | | distance of about 5 football fields! |
| Think of building a house out of blocks or Lego bricks. | | | | So what does that mean? Most of an atom is empty |
| If you look closely at the house, you can see that it's | | | | space. The chair that you're sitting on, the computer |
| made up of different kinds of bricks. One kind makes | | | | you're using to read this, even your own body, is |
| up the roof, one kind makes up the walls, another | | | | mostly empty space. The reason it seems solid is |
| makes up the windows. By combining different blocks | | | | because of those whizzing electrons. |
| in different ways, we could build almost anything we | | | | Think of the spinning blades of a fan. You can't pass |
| can imagine. | | | | your finger through a fan without getting hurt, because |
| Atoms are like those building blocks. There are over | | | | the blades spin so fast that they act like a solid, even |
| 100 different kinds of atoms, and by putting them | | | | though there's space between them. |
| together in different ways, we can make anything in | | | | Electrons work the same way. They move around the |
| the universe! | | | | nucleus so fast that even though most of the atom is |
| Atoms are so tiny that we can't see them, even with | | | | empty space, it acts like a solid! |
| the most powerful microscope on the planet. But | | | | So next time you paint a picture, or write a poem, or |
| scientists have been doing experiments for thousands | | | | make something out of clay, take another look at it |
| of years to figure out what atoms looks like, and we | | | | and remember: that's pretty amazing for someone |
| know now that there are two parts to an atom. At the | | | | who's mostly made of empty space! |