Jump online to check out the Water Molecules on the Move experiment.
You'll need just a few simple materials and help from a friend or family member. To experiment with some different types of molecules that don't mix together, try the fun Mixing Oil and Water experiment.
Sometimes the atoms are all from the same element. When two or more atoms chemically bond together, they form a molecule. This attraction results from the properties and characteristics of the atoms' outermost electrons, which are known as valence electrons. Why exactly do atoms tend to combine together? Why aren't they happy just hanging out by themselves? As it turns out, it's purely a matter of chemistry.Ītoms form chemical bonds with other atoms when there's an electrostatic attraction between them. Likewise, they make up all the matter around us, from mountains and seas to planets and stars. Too small to see, those atoms combine in an infinite number of ways to make us who and what we are. On the smallest scale, we are made up of countless tiny atoms. And yet all of these things are composed of variations of the same small set of materials we know as elements. Over seven billion human beings and an untold number of animals inhabit Earth. Here on Earth, we have tall mountains, deep seas, and miles upon miles of all sorts of land. We have the planets and the Sun in our solar system, which is part of the larger Milky Way galaxy.