Building Blocks of Life and Matter

The building blocks

Look closely enough and everything is built from tiny building blocks. Living things are made of cells, and all matter, living or not, is made of atoms. This module looks at both: the cell as the unit of life, and the atom as the unit of matter.

Cell and atom words

Four ideas run through this module:

Label the cell

Here is an animal cell. Drag each label onto the correct part.

Match each cell part

Animal or plant cell?

Plant cells have everything an animal cell has, and a few extra parts.

Plants only

Which part is found in plant cells but NOT in animal cells?

• Chloroplast
• Nucleus
• Cell membrane
• Cytoplasm

Now to matter

Every substance is built from atoms. An element is made of just one kind of atom, like oxygen or iron. The same particles can be arranged in three states: packed tightly in a solid, close but flowing in a liquid, and spread far apart in a gas.

Label the atom

Here is a model atom. Drag each label onto the right part: the two particles in the centre, the small particle on the ring, and the ring itself.

Match each particle

Add them up

An atom has 6 protons and 6 neutrons. What is its mass number? Add the number of protons to the number of neutrons.

Packed to spread out

Put the three states of matter in order, from the particles packed closest together to the most spread out.

• Solid: particles packed tightly in a fixed pattern
• Liquid: particles close but able to flow
• Gas: particles spread far apart

Building blocks

Select the TWO statements that are TRUE.

• Living things are built from cells
• All matter is built from atoms
• A cell and an atom are the same thing
• Atoms are easily seen with the naked eye

Building blocks in words

Living things are built from _____, and the part that controls a cell is the _____. All matter is built from _____. A substance made of only one kind of atom is an _____. In a _____, the particles are packed tightly in a fixed pattern.

Which building block?

Decide about each building block. Choose each time.

• A mitochondrion is part of which building block of life?
• Iron is made of only one kind of atom. What is iron an example of?
• In which state of matter are the particles spread furthest apart?

Life and matter

Explain how both living things and non-living matter are built from small building blocks. Use the cell and the atom in your answer.

• Name the building block that all living things are made from
• Name two parts of a cell and what they do
• Name the building block that all matter is made from
• Explain what an element is