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CUT ITUP

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cut up a pizza

How do you cut up a

pizza?

What if you kept on

cutting and cutting andcutting?

What is the smallest piece

you can cut?

What is the smallest part ofthe pizza that you wouldstill call pizza?

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cut up an elephant

Elephants are made of many

things. What are some of thethings that make up an elephant?

If you cut up an elephant, wouldany of the parts be another

elephant?

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cut up salt

Take the smallest grain of salt.

Lets cut it up until we cant cut

it up anymore.

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A molecule of salt is made of two atoms

manymolecules

of salt

make a

crystal

salt

forms in

crystals

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ATOMS ARE THE BUILDING

BLOCKS OF MATTER

Atoms have a center, the nucleus. The nucleus is

made of protons and neutrons. Atoms also haveelectrons that orbit the nucleus just as the moon

orbits the earth. Atoms are made of electrons,

protons and neutrons.

Na+

We can draw simplified diagrams of atoms. The plus

sign in this diagram indicates that the Sodium atom

pictured has a positive charge. Sodium atoms have aneven number of electrons, therefore they carry a

positive charge. Some atoms have a negative charge.

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more about molecules

Lets take a closer look at the atoms that make up the

salt molecule. Sodium has a positive charge, andchloride has a negative charge. Atoms want to be

positively charged, so the chloride atom shares an

electron with the sodium atom.

Na+ Cl-

In this diagram, atoms of

Sodium (Na) and Chloride (Cl)share an electron to form a

molecule of salt.

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ATOMS CAN FORM

COMPOUNDS,MIXTURES, OR STAND

ALONE AS THEY ARE.

Salt is a compound. The smallest piece of

salt is made of two atoms bound into a

molecule. Other compounds include sugar and water.

Gold cannot be separated into atoms of different

kinds. All of the atoms in gold are gold atoms.

The smallest piece of gold is a gold atom.Therefore, gold is an element. What element do

you use to fill up balloons that float in the air?

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Molecules and atoms can form mixturesMixturescan be easily separated into molecules and atoms.Soil, ocean water and air are mixtures.

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elements

Weve talked about these elements:

SODIUM

CLORIDE

GOLD

HELIUM

Can you name any other elements?

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how many elements are there?

Sometimes scientists discover new elements. As of 2012, there are 118

elements. Only 92 of these elements exist in nature: the rest can be created byscientists in a laboratory.

Look around you: everything you see is made

up of one or more of the 92 elements that existin nature. Some of these elements are gases in

the air you breathe, so you cant see them.Take a deep breath: now they are in your

lungs.

You (and other living things) are mostly made of four elements: oxygen,

hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen.

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Elements are often presented in a table

called the Periodic Table of Elements.

This table presents important information about elements. You will

understand the table when you know more about atoms.

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More about the atom

Chemists study elements, and do experiments based on the properties ofelements. This is because atoms are quite stable. They are difficult to break into

smaller parts.

Actually, you can break some electrons off from atomsquite easily: you just rub a balloon on your hair.

If youve ever been zapped getting off from a plastic

slide on the playground, then you know what a

transfer of electrons feels like. Protons and neutrons areharder to extract from an atom.

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Inside the atom

Protons and neutrons are made up of quarks.

Quarks have funny names: up, down, top, bottom,charmed and strange.

People used to think that the atom was the smallest

piece of anything. Now we know that atoms can bedivided into smaller pieces called quarks.

Quarks are one kind of sub-atomic particle.

Maybe you can cut a pizza up until you get to the quarks.

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