Matter, is the one most important aspect of the world. Without it, there would not be anything but a big vacuum instead of our beautiful lush earth and universe. You might want to know how we as humans know that everything is made of matter. Well, it starts way back in 460-370’s when Democritus first put out the idea that everything is made out of tiny particles. He also said they varied in size and shape based on the object. His idea was disliked and despised by many philosophers. Aristotle disagreed and said that matter was made from earth, wind, water, and fire. The theory of tiny particles was forgotten until 1808 when a Quaker teacher named John Dolton said that instead of different natural elements being matter, each object was made from elements from an element compound table. For example, water is made from 1 oxygen and 2 hydrogen atoms that’s why its called H2O (H=hydrogen; O=oxygen). He said that they came together to make molecules that couldn’t be created nor destroyed. The next breakthrough came in 1897: JJ Thomson discovered the electron. He used a model which looks like a cookie to prove this. This model stated that each molecule had electrons scattered amongst it as well as negatively charged electrons. His student Ernest Rutherford in 1912, while studying the effects of X-rays on gases, decided to investigate atoms more closely by shooting small positively charged alpha particles at a sheet of gold foil. Using Thomson’s model all of the particles would have gone straight through, which most did. but some bounced off, saying this, it means that the alpha particles passed through the gaps, but some bounced off the dense nucleus. But, what we know today wasn’t established then, it took the famous Neil Bohr in 1913 to say that electrons orbited the nucleus. The electrons acted like waves not going around in a perfect circle. This knowledge helped build the path to the present quantum model which is a lot more complicated. In conclusion, as electrons that circle atoms shift between energy levels, they absorb or release energy in the form of light resulting in all the beautiful colours we see in our world today.
I made a chart of what questions I had and the answers to them. I also made it have all the things I know from research.
“In all your projects, you did more than just research, so, what did you do now” you might ask. I made a game. No, not a board game like before! We used Scratch to make a video game. Scratch is very easy to use, especially for people that have never coded before, people like me. There are also many tutorials about Scratch on how to make cool games and other unique things that coding platforms like Java don’t have. Fortunately for me, I didn’t need a tutorial. I worked hard for hours making my game unique and special, something I think I did very well at. I used communication and collaboration a lot in this project because I got my dad to help me with some very hard coding mechanisms that I didn’t understand, like gravity and cloning. And trust me, I had to communicate and collaborate with him a lot! I inputted a lot about matter in my game, such as atoms joining together and forming molecules.
In my game, the character is an oxygen atom that I drew. I also drew two hydrogen atoms. You have to get both hydrogen atoms to join oxygen atom to become a water molecule so you can open the portal to get to safety. I even included the transitions from solid to liquid state of matter and from liquid to gas state of matter, also called melting and evaporation. This is portrayed by the platforms made of ice melting above a pool of hot lava and also, when you become a water molecule and you fall into the lava you will turn into steam. Using all of these matter subjects, I made a pretty cool-looking game that I am very proud of. But the matter isn’t the only thing that’s important, getting your schoolwork is too. So, I have to submit this now. Bye, thanks for reading!!!!!!!
This is the link to my game.