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    Explore Atoms and Molecules!: With 25 Great Projects
    Explore Atoms and Molecules!: With 25 Great Projects
    Explore Atoms and Molecules!: With 25 Great Projects
    Ebook156 pages1 hour

    Explore Atoms and Molecules!: With 25 Great Projects

    By Janet Slingerland and Matt Aucoin

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    About this ebook

    Atoms and molecules are the basic building blocks of matter. Matter is every physical thing around us in the universe, including our own bodies! In Explore Atoms and Molecules! With 25 Great Projects, readers ages 7 to 10 investigate the structure of atoms and learn how atoms fit together to form molecules and materials.

    If everything is made out of atoms and molecules, why do people look different from dogs and doorknobs? In Explore Atoms and Molecules, readers discover that the characteristics of a material are determined by the way the atoms and molecules connect, and study how chemical reactions change these connections to create everything we know. This book discusses the elements on the periodic table and why they are grouped into families, encouraging the exploration of meaningful classification systems. States of matter and mixtures and compounds round out the exploration of atoms and molecules!

    This book supports the maker movement with lots of hands-on activities that illuminate the concepts of chemistry. Readers build 3-D models of molecules and create a periodic table guessing game. Fascinating sidebars offer opportunities for readers to connect the text with real-world science, and cartoon illustrations provide a fun foundation for learning.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNomad Press
    Release dateApr 11, 2017
    ISBN9781619304932
    Explore Atoms and Molecules!: With 25 Great Projects
    Author

    Janet Slingerland

    Janet Slingerland is an engineer turned writer from New Jersey. She's written many nonfiction books about STEM, animals, history, and more.

    Read more from Janet Slingerland

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      Book preview

      Explore Atoms and Molecules! - Janet Slingerland

      More science titles in the Explore Your World! Series

      Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net

      Nomad Press

      A division of Nomad Communications

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Copyright © 2017 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or for limited educational use.

      The trademark Nomad Press and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.

      Educational Consultant, Marla Conn

      Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to

      Nomad Press

      2456 Christian St.

      White River Junction, VT 05001

      www.nomadpress.net

      CONTENTS

      Timeline

      Introduction

      Atoms and Molecules Matter

      Chapter 1

      Atomic Arrangement

      Chapter 2

      It’s Element-ary!

      Chapter 3

      Atoms Get Happy

      Chapter 4

      Mix It Up!

      Chapter 5

      Changeable Materials

      Chapter 6

      Getting a Reaction

      Index

      Interested in primary sources? Look for this icon.

      Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more! You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page.

      If the QR code doesn’t work, try searching the Internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.

      KEYWORD PROMPTS

      TIMELINE

      CIRCA 500 BCE:

      The ancient Greeks propose the idea that atoms are the smallest pieces of matter in the universe.

      1669:

      Hennig Brand discovers phosphorus.

      1808:

      John Dalton publishes his atomic theory, which includes the idea that all atoms in an element are the same and each type of atom has a unique weight.

      1869:

      Dmitri Mendeleev publishes the periodic table of elements.

      1890s:

      J.J. Thomson discovers the electron, proving the existence of subatomic particles.

      1896:

      Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity.

      1898:

      Pierre and Marie Curie discover the radioactive elements radium and polonium.

      1911:

      Ernest Rutherford proposes a new atomic model where electrons orbit the nucleus like planets orbit a sun.

      1913:

      Niels Bohr refines the Rutherford atomic model, introducing electron orbitals.

      1913:

      Henry Moseley proves an element’s identity is defined by the number of protons it has. He rearranged the periodic table based on numbers of protons (the atomic number).

      1916:

      Gilbert N. Lewis devises dot structures as a way to show interactions between atoms.

      1917:

      Ernest Rutherford splits an atom, changing nitrogen into oxygen. In the process, he discovers the proton.

      1932:

      James Chadwick detects neutrons and measures their mass.

      1981:

      Invention of the scanning tunneling microscope makes it possible to view atoms and molecules.

      1985:

      Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, and Richard Smalley discover ball-shaped forms of carbon called fullerenes. They win the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work.

      2004:

      Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov discover graphene, a form of carbon consisting of a single sheet of atoms. They were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.

      2011:

      Swiss scientists create PG5, the largest manmade molecule.

      2016:

      The names and symbols of the last four elements to be discovered are officially assigned and added to the periodic table. Element 113 becomes Nihonium (Nh), element 115 becomes Moscovium (Mc); element 117 becomes Tennessine (Ts), and element 118 becomes Oganesson (Og).

      INTRODUCTION

      ATOMS AND MOLECULES MATTER

      Atoms and molecules are too tiny for people to see without using microscopes. If they’re so small, why do they matter? They matter because they make up matter, which makes up everything around us.

      Matter is everywhere. It is the floor beneath your feet, the water in your glass, and the breeze in the air. Matter is anything that takes up space. Everything you can see, smell, and touch is made of matter. And all that matter is made of atoms and molecules.

      WORDS TO KNOW

      atom: a very small piece of matter. Atoms are the tiny building blocks that make up everything in the universe.

      molecule: the smallest amount of something, made of atoms bound together.

      matter: anything that takes up space.

      state of matter: the form that matter takes. There are three common states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas.

      solid: one of the three states of matter. The particles in a solid are bound together tightly. A solid has a definite shape and volume and does not flow.

      liquid: one of the three states of matter. The particles in a liquid cluster together and flow. A liquid has a fixed volume and takes the shape of its container.

      gas: one of the three states of matter. The particles in a gas are not bound to each other and move very fast in all directions. A gas does not have a definite shape or volume.

      volume: the amount of space an object takes up.

      mass: the amount of material that an object contains.

      Floors, water, and wind don’t seem as though they are made of the same stuff. They all behave very differently. They are all matter, and they are all made of atoms and molecules. But they are in different states. Matter is usually in one of three states—solid, liquid, or gas.

      STATES OF MATTER

      A floor is solid. You can walk on it. You can jump on it. You can pile furniture on top of it. It doesn’t easily change shape. You can even move it, with a lot of

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