What is Matter Made Of (Approaching MS)_01

Today in science class you learned about what things are made of. The plastic chair you are sitting on is made of matter. The wood lab table is also made of matter, as is the air in the room. At first it did not make any sense. How could everything be made of the same thing? The table is made of wood, the chair is made of plastic, and the air is made of, well, air. Though they are all made of matter, all these things have different properties. How could they be made of the same thing, matter, and at the same time have different properties? It was then Mr. Harvey asked a question as all science teachers love to do. “If everything is made of matter, what is matter made of?” he asked.

Okay, you can now relax and take a deep breath. At least now you know you are not going crazy; there is more to this matter story. Mr. Harvey provided a quick overview explaining everything you needed to know. It is simple really; matter is made of super tiny atoms. They are way too small to see, even with a powerful microscope. Exactly how small is an atom you wonder? Notice the size of the period at the end of this sentence. The period can hold about 7.7 trillion atoms. Even though atoms are super tiny, they are the important building blocks of matter.

Mr. Harvey set boxes of Legos on our tables and told us that each piece was a single atom. The colors, he explained, represent different types of atoms. He assigned us the task of finding different ways to join them. Science class is always fun. What other teacher would let you play with Legos? Mr. Harvey’s hands-on approach makes learning science easy.