You may have heard someone say that a water molecule is formed by two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atoms, Is not it?! But what are atoms and molecules? Can you tell me?
well the text What are all things made of? showed that everything around us is made up of atoms, which are tiny particles. They are so small that, to give you an idea, in a single grain of sand there are more atoms than the leaves of all the trees in the world!Ever wonder? That's a huge amount! Which means the atom is really very small.
The atoms that make up all things have the same shape, that is, they all have a core and other smaller particles, the electrons, that are rotating around this core, as shown in the following image:
Figure illustrating what the model of an atom would look like
The number of particles that make up the atoms is what sets them apart. There are 92 different types of atoms and 25 more that have already been produced in the laboratory.
These atoms can stick together, getting close together and forming the materials we know
. For example, have you ever seen balloons at children's parties that, if you let go, go up and fly away? Well, these balloons are filled with a gas called helium, which is made up of several atoms of this element:
The balloon is filled with helium gas, which is made up of several atoms of this element, as shown on the right side of the image.
See other materials formed by different types of atoms:
Different materials (iron, gold, coal and mercury) composed of different atoms
But atoms can also join with other different atoms, forming the molecules. Next we have a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom:
Hydrogen and Oxygen Atoms
These atoms link together to form the water molecule as shown below:
Formation of water molecules
Like the atoms that make up molecules, they are also tiny, so much so that there are 602 200 000 000 000 000 000 molecules in just 18 g of water. We can write this number in a simpler way: 6,022. 1023 (see that 23 is the number of spaces you walked with the comma to the left).
Atoms can link together in very different ways and form many types of molecules. That's why there are so many materials with different properties around us.
By Jennifer Fogaça
Graduated in Chemistry
Take the opportunity to check out our video lesson on the subject:
