Kid's Chemestry 101

Quick! What is chemistry? Well, hold your horses. To know what chemistry is, you have to know what matter is. Basically, matter is the stuff everything is made of. Matter makes up everything from yesterday’s lunch to your favorite toy, and is made up of tiny parts called atoms and molecules. Anything that has weight is matter, even if something only weighs .0000001 pounds, that’s still matter! Everything you can touch, see, feel or even smell is called matter.

So what is chemistry? Chemistry is the study of that matter and how it changes. But why do we have to study matter? Why is it so important? Because matter is everything. If you want to know why water turns to ice when it gets too cold or how some fruit juice tastes like fruit even though there’s no fruit in it, you have to study chemistry. If you want to know why some things catch fire and others don’t, or why the sky is blue, or … all chemistry.

To find out more about the world of chemistry, please click on the links below. They all go to sites that are nice and easy to understand, so there’s nothing to be scared of. Just take a look at some of the cool stuff chemistry has to offer, like what atoms are, and the Periodic Table, and all kinds of other things that are just too cool to talk about up here!

“Matter”

Matter – What everything in the world is made up of.

“Atoms”

Atom – The basic building blocks of matter, atoms consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons.

“The Periodic Table”

Periodic Table – A table showing all of the known chemical elements, organized by their properties.

“The 36 Elements”

36 Elements – The first 36 elements found on the periodic table.

“Chemical Reactions”

Chemical Reaction – The process in which one substance is transformed in a new substance.

“Biochemistry”

Biochemistry – The study of chemistry that takes place in living things.