Lesson 11: Matter Is Made of Particles
Atoms, molecules, and ions provide models for the tiny building blocks of ordinary matter. The lesson connects these models with material properties and the difference between a larger sample and larger particles.
Key Ideas
- Matter is made of tiny building blocks, including atoms and molecules. They are too small to see with our eyes.
- Materials can act differently because they contain different building blocks or because those building blocks fit together differently.
- A larger amount of the same material contains more tiny building blocks. Its atoms do not become bigger.
- Breaking something into pieces changes how its parts fit together. Water droplets can join again, but cut-up shoe pieces do not simply become a shoe.
Vocabulary
- Matter: Anything that has mass and takes up space.
- Particle: A tiny piece. When we talk about what matter is made of, particles include atoms and molecules.
- Particle Nature: The idea that matter is made of tiny particles, such as atoms and molecules.
Discussion Questions
- If particles are too small to see even with most microscopes, how do scientists know they actually exist?
- A smell travels across a room even though the object producing it is not moving. What does this tell us about the particles of that substance?
- When you dissolve sugar in water you can still taste it. What other senses might help us detect particles we cannot see?
Supplies for Live Class:
- Piece of paper to rip up