(This page is for young readers, English learners, and anyone who wants to learn basic science. Understanding these basics will help you read about biology and later about COVID-19.)
Click on the dark blue words to see what they mean.
Everything around us that we can see, touch, smell, taste, or hear is either matter or energy:
- Matter is anything you can touch, smell, or taste. It can be heavy or light. On Earth, heavy things fall down, while very light things can float in the air. Even though we can’t see air, it is still matter. There are also tiny pieces of matter too small for our eyes to see.
- Energy is something that isn’t heavy or light. There are different kinds of energy:
- Heat (such as warmth from the sun)
- Light (such as sunlight or a lamp)
- Electricity (what powers lights at home)
- Movement (anything that moves has energy)
A moving car has both matter (the car itself) and energy (because it is moving). You’ll also learn that electricity also both matter and energy!
What is matter?
Matter is everything around us that we can touch, smell, or taste. It has weight and takes up space.
What does matter have inside?
Matter is made of atoms.
What are atoms?
Atoms are extremely, extremely small. Imagine you have a piece of iron (a type of metal). If you break it in half, you still have iron—just in two pieces. If you break each of those in half, you still have iron—now in four pieces.
How many times can you keep breaking the pieces and still have iron? A lot! About 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times—a million million million million times!*
At that point, you reach the smallest part of iron that is still iron: an atom. But if you break an atom, its pieces are no longer iron.
Atoms are so tiny that we can’t see them, but you can imagine them as tiny clouds or draw them as balls.
What does an atom contain?
An atom contains atomic particles. These particles are extremely tiny. They are both matter and energy at the same time!
What are the most important atomic particles?
The three main atomic particles are:
But there are many more!
You can imagine an atomic particle as a tiny ball, but it’s not a ball because it is also energy, not just matter.
What is an atom like?
An atom is like a ball of protons and neutrons with a cloud of tiny electrons flying around it. Electricity happens when these electrons move from atom to atom. Here we have a movement of matter that carries energy.
You don’t need to know more about atomic particles to understand COVID-19, but it helps to know a little more about atoms!
How many times can you break down water?
If you keep breaking water into smaller and smaller pieces, you will still have water—until you reach the smallest part of water. This takes about a million million million million (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) times!**
What is the smallest part of water?
The smallest piece of water that is still water is called a molecule—not an atom.
What is a water molecule made of?
A water molecule is made of three atoms:
That’s why water is also called H₂O:
- H stands for hydrogen
- O stands for oxygen
- The 2 means there are two hydrogen atoms
What does a water molecule look like?
You can imagine a water molecule as three tiny clouds stuck together, with electrons flying around in clouds.
Oxygen and hydrogen in the air
Oxygen and hydrogen atoms are also in the air around us. They move quickly, bouncing off walls and everything else.
Oxygen is the part of air we need to breathe. Our bodies use oxygen to make energy. Without it, we wouldn’t survive. A dead body no longer has this energy.
What are molecules in our bodies like?
In biology, you’ll learn that our bodies have many types of molecules that are much bigger than a water molecule. These molecules are like many small balls (atoms) all stuck together.
What atoms are in most molecules in our bodies?
Most of the molecules in our bodies are made up of three main types of atoms:
- Carbon
- Hydrogen
- Oxygen
What is carbon?
Carbon is the part of matter that turns black when something like wood or paper burns.
What is an atom’s name?
Each type of atom has a short name:
- C means carbon
- H means hydrogen
- O means oxygen
- Fe means iron
What is an element?
An element is a substance made up of only one kind of atom. For example:
- Iron is an element.
- Carbon is an element.
- Hydrogen is an element.
- Oxygen is an element.
How do we name molecules?
The name of a molecule shows the short names of the atoms inside it. For example, H₂O is the name of the water molecule.
What is CO₂?
Another small molecule is CO₂, called carbon dioxide. It is part of the air that people breathe out.
What does the CO₂ molecule look like?
In the picture of the CO₂ molecule:
The two red balls are oxygen atoms.
The black ball is a carbon atom.
Can molecules be big?
Yes, molecules can even be much bigger! Here is an example of a large molecule found in the human body.
How do we see atoms in big molecules?
In pictures of molecules, colors help us identify different atoms:
- Carbon atoms are usually shown in black
- Hydrogen atoms are shown in white
- Oxygen atoms are shown in red
But in reality, atoms don’t have these colors. The colors are just for us to easily recognize them in the pictures.
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*Note that if however you only keep cutting in half one of the smallest pieces of iron every time, starting with 56 grams of iron (2 ounces), you would only cut about 78 times until you end up with a single atom that you cannot cut. (The pieces get very small very quickly!)
**Likewise, if you begin with 18 grams of water( less than 1 ounce), and keep cutting only the smallest piece around 78 times, you would end up with a single water molecule.
Now you can read the Easy Biology page!
©2020 Dr. Michael Herrera