This video gets you started on the right foot. We’ll outline what’s coming up for this unit and how to get the most out of our lesson together. Enjoy!

Scientific Concepts:

  • All matter is made up of some kind of atom.
  • Visible matter is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
  • A proton has a positive charge, a neutron has no charge, and an electron has a negative charge.
  • When you split an atom or particle, it’s called fission. It’s how atomic bombs get their major amounts of energy.Fusion occurs when you squish atoms together. The sun creates its energy using fusion.
  • Most of an atom’s mass is inside the nucleus.
  • Depending on the types of particles you smoosh or split, you get different amounts of energy.
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Cosmic Ray Detector
When high energy radiation strikes the Earth from space, it’s called cosmic rays. To be accurate, a cosmic ray is not like a ray of sunshine, but rather is a super-fast particle slinging through space. Think of throwing a grain of sand at a 100 mph… and that’s what we call a ‘cosmic ray’.
Nuclear Reactions & Radioactive Decay
If you think about it, the nucleus of an atom (proton and neutron) really have no reason to stick together. The neutron doesn't have a charge, and the proton has a positive charge. And most nuclei have more than one proton, and positive-positive charges repel (think of trying to force two North sides of a magnet together). So what keeps the core together?
Quantum Mechanics: Double Slit Experiment
This stuff is definitely sci-fi weird, and probably not appropriate for younger grades (although we did have a seven year old reiterate in his own words this exact phenomenon to a physics professor, so hey... anything possible! Which is why we've included it here.)
Alpha Particle Detector
Here is another way to detect cosmic rays, only this time you'll actually see the thin, threadlike vapor trails appear and disappear. These cobwebby trails are left by the particles within minutes of creating the detector. (Be sure to complete the Cosmic Ray Detector first!)