Building Blocks of Life and Matter
Everything is built from tiny units. Living things are made of cells and all matter is made of atoms. Label a cell and an atom, meet their parts, and see the particle model of the three states of matter.
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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.
Words to know 📖
Four ideas run through this module:
Label the cell 🔬
An interactive activity.
Match each cell part 🔗
- Nucleus
- Cell membrane
- Cytoplasm
- Mitochondrion
- Controls the cell and holds the genetic material
- Controls what enters and leaves the cell
- The jelly where most chemical reactions happen
- Releases energy through respiration
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 🏷️
An interactive activity.
Match each particle 🔀
- Proton
- Neutron
- Electron
- Charge +1, found in the nucleus
- Charge 0, found in the nucleus
- Charge -1, moving in shells around the nucleus
Add them up 🔢
An interactive activity.
Packed to spread out 🧊
An interactive activity.
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? 🧭
An interactive activity.
Life and matter ✍️
An interactive activity.