Atoms, Elements And Compounds – Session 1

Imagine a giant Lego kingdom. In this kingdom, there are many different types of big-buildings like castles and towers, and small-buildings like tiny houses. Now, every single thing in that Lego kingdom, no matter how big or small, is made up of tiny Lego pieces. These tiny pieces are like the building blocks of the whole kingdom.

The atoms are like those tiny Lego pieces. In our world, everything we see, touch, and feel is made up of these tiny building-blocks called atoms. Whether it is a huge elephant, a slice of pizza, or a drop of water, all are made up of atoms. The air that we breathe is also made up of atoms.You can arrange Lego pieces in different ways to make different things. Similarly, the atoms come together in different ways to make up all the different things around us.

The atoms are so tiny that we can not see them with our eyes alone. We would need very special tools to get a glimpse of them.Similar to different types of Lego pieces, there are different types of atoms. These different types give things different properties, such as why gold is shiny or why water is wet.

The atoms love to join together and make teams. When they team up, they can make something new. Can you tell why gold is shiny and plastic is not, although both are made up of atoms? The atoms that make up gold are different from atoms that make up plastic.

Remember how we talked about the Lego kingdom and the tiny Lego pieces that make up everything in it? Well, let us imagine that in our big box of Legos, we have different colors and shapes of pieces. These pieces are red bricks, blue squares, yellow circles, and green triangles. Now, each unique type or color of Lego piece can represent an atom.

An element is made up of same type of atoms joined together. For example, gold is the element. It is made up of gold atoms. These gold atoms join together to make the gold element.

Diamond is also an element. It is made up of carbon atoms. Do you know graphite that is used in pencils is also made of carbon atoms.But, why is the diamond shiny and graphite is black, although both are made of carbon atoms? This is because the arrangement of atoms in diamond is different from graphite.

Imagine you connect two red Lego bricks together. Now you have a little structure or group made up of those pieces. This group of Lego bricks is like a molecule in the world of atoms.If you take two hydrogen atoms and connect them together, you form a hydrogen molecule. Similarly, if you connect two oxygen atoms and connect them, the oxygen molecule is formed.

What if you connect two red lego bricks with one yellow brick? This will also result in the formation of a molecule. For example, when two hydrogen atoms connect with one oxygen atom, they form a water molecule. So we can say that, two or more than two same or different types of atoms join to form the molecule.

Imagine you have a rule for a special Lego creation. You always join one red Lego brick and two green Lego triangles together. Every time you make this specific structure, you are following the same pattern of combining red bricks with green triangles. This specific, consistent combination is like a compound.

Remember our water molecule? It is always made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. When a lot of these water molecules combine, they form a compound. Water is a compound. It is made up of water molecules.

Can you guess any other example of a compound? Another example of the compound is table salt. We use table salt in our food. It is made of two different types of elements.

The pure form of matter is called a substance. The elements and compounds are examples of pure form of matter. For example, gold is a pure substance. Similarly, water is a compound and it is a pure substance.

A mixture is formed when you combine two or more substances together. Each substance retains its own original properties in a mixture. This means that each component in the mixture remains unchanged and does not turn into something new. Think of a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots. Each ingredient keeps its own taste and texture. They are all together in one bowl, but they have not combined to form a completely new single substance. So, we can say that the salad is a mixture.

The air we breathe is a mixture of several gases like oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Each gas retains its own properties. Similarly, if we mix salt in water, the salt water is formed. The salt water is the mixture.