How should I draw atoms? Like little round balloons? They are up to 99.999% space inside their “shells”. Even more mind boggling: air molecules take up only 0.1% of the volume they occupy - 99.9% of the atmosphere is vacuum. Yet if our children do not feel the matter that is air, how can they  be truly aware of how air molecules retain the thermal energy that warms the surface of our planet and enable us to live?

   JOURNEY index         Look back to 3                      Next: Dancing Tiny with the Air

Teachers: Level 4 students and older  may appreciate a simulated spectroscope view of an atom  The active graphic attempts to show a cloud of electrons around a nucleus.

Chapter Six - Land of the Lost Trace Gases - Heated Matters.        

Bonus Joules and the Knowledge Economy: All images on this site are copyright 2001 and you are free to use them with care.