A fallen maple leaf shows its autumn colors Royalty-Free Corbis
Science and Nature TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 SOME ESSENTIALS Atoms Building Blocks of Matter 6 Liquids Solids and Gases Same Stuff Different Forms 8 Echoes Sounds That See in the Dark 10 Energy The Power of Life 12 Leaves The Science of Their Changing Colors 14 PHENOMENA OF NATURE Temperatures Hot and Cold 16 Dew Diamond Drops of Water 18 Clouds Floating Water 20 Rainbows Arcs of Color 22 Thunder and Lightning Nature’s Fireworks 24 Cyclones and Tornadoes Nature’s Fury 26 Acid Rain Killer Downpour 28 Waves Movement on the Seas 30 Tsunamis Waves of Destruction 32 GEOLOGY Studying the Earth 34 Rocks and Minerals The Earth’s Building Blocks 36 Chalk The Remains of Tiny Shells 38 Sand The Nitty-Gritty 40 Diamonds The Hardest-Working Gemstones in the World 42 Volcanoes Mountains of Smoke and Fire 44 Fossils Ancient Life in Stone 46 Dinosaurs Giants of the Past 48 Dinosaurs A Mystery Disappearance 50 Tyrannosaur The Tyrant King 52 Mammoths and Mastodons Ancient Elephants 54 NATURE SCIENTISTS Luther Burbank Inventing New Plants 56 Marie Curie Discovering a New Kind of Science 58 Charles Darwin The Theory of Evolution 60 GLOSSARY 62 INDEX 63 Brit a nnic a LEARNING LIBRARY
B uildingBlocks o f Matter Everything in the world is made up of molecules Our bodies our clothes our houses animals plants air water sky everything Molecules are so small though that we can’t see them with our naked eyes But molecules aren’t the smallest things Molecules are made up of atoms which are smaller still Atoms are so small that it takes more than a billion atoms to fill the space taken up by one pea The word atom comes from the Greek word atomos meaning indivisible But despite what their name suggests atoms can indeed be divided into smaller pieces Each atom has a core called a nucleus Around the nucleus swarm small particles called electrons The nucleus itself is made up of other small particles called protons and neutrons And these protons and neutrons are made up of even smaller things called quarks So for now at least quarks are among the smallest known things in the universe LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES ENERGY LIQUIDS SOLIDS AND GASES MARIE CURIE l DID YOU KNOW that scientists have to make up new ways to describe Quarks are so smal They talk about the different flavors of quarks not chocolate or them pistachio but up down charm strange top and bottom
ATOMS S EA R C H LIG H T True or false Atoms are the smallest things of all are even smaller than those protons all of which are smaller than the atom itself And quarks Answer FALSE Atoms can be split into electrons neutrons and 7
