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start whizzing around faster and If you magnified the atom to be
faster. Temperature is basically the size of the earth, then nucleus
a speedometer for molecules. would be the size of a basketball at
The faster they are wiggling and the center of the earth and the first
jiggling, the higher the electron shell would be on the
temperature and the higher the surface of the earth. An atom is
thermal energy that object has. mostly empty space!
If we lower the temperature, the Atoms rarely hang
ping pong balls move more slowly. out alone. They
The push the wall feels from each join together in
ball add up to equal the total groups from two to
pressure on the wall by the balls. millions of atoms.
The faster the balls move around, H 2O for example is
the more pushes the wall feels. made up of two
This means the higher the hydrogen atoms
temperature, the higher the and one oxygen
pressure. atom.
If we keep the temperature Atoms are made of three basic
constant but instead shrink the size particles: neutrons, protons, and
of the room in half, the balls also electrons. Neutrons and protons
move more quickly. When the are made up of smaller particles
volume of a gas decreases, the called quarks (more on this in Unit
temperature and pressure 7).
increase. More on this in Unit 13.
Neutrons
and protons
are together
The Atom in the
middle of
the atom
All matter is made of atoms. An
atom is the smallest part of stable and make
matter. up the
nucleus of the atom. Electrons
If you magnify an apple to be the move around the nucleus. They
size of the earth, the atoms inside don’t “orbit” the nucleus. Next
would be the size of an apple. lesson we will talk more about how
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