89 Mixing Matter-Low

Mixing Matter Written by David Dreier

戴维·德雷尔著

Introduction Look at all the things around you. Maybe you see books, a chair, and some water. All these things are made of matter. Anything that takes up space and has weight is made of matter. But what exactly is matter—what is it made of? This book explores that question. It also looks at some of the ways that matter combines to create the many materials and objects in our world.

看看你周围的一切。 也许你会看到书，一把椅子和一些水。 所有这些都是由物质构成的。 任何占据空间并有重量的东西都是由物质构成的。 但究竟什么是物质——它是由什么构成的? 这本书探讨了这个问题。 它还着眼于物质结合的一些方式，以创造我们世界中的许多材料和物体。

Elements All matter is made of elements. Elements are very special materials. They cannot be broken down into other substances. Imagine cutting a piece of gold into very tiny pieces. No matter how small a piece is, it will still be gold. That is why gold is an element.

一切物质都是由元素构成的。 元素是非常特殊的材料。 它们不能被分解成其他物质。 想象一下把一块金子切成非常小的碎片。 无论多么小的一块，它仍然是金子。 这就是为什么金是一种元素。

There are about 120 elements. Some are metals such as iron and gold. Others are usually gases, such as oxygen and helium. Each element has a symbol. The symbol is one or two letters. The letters are often short for the element's name. For example, oxygen is "O." Helium is "He." Elements combine in many different ways. They make materials that we see and use every day. Word Wise Some symbols for elements come from the Latin language. For example, Fe is the symbol for iron. Fe is short for ferrum, the Latin word for iron.

大约有120种元素。 有些是金属，如铁和金。 其他的通常是气体，如氧和氦。 每个元素都有一个符号。 这个符号是一个或两个字母。 这些字母通常是元素名称的缩写。 例如，氧是" o " 氦是“He”。元素以许多不同的方式组合。 他们制造我们每天都能看到和使用的材料。 一些表示元素的符号来自拉丁语。 例如，Fe是铁的符号。 Fe是拉丁文中铁的缩写ferrum。

Atoms Imagine that you could look deep into any object. You would see that everything is made of tiny particles. These particles are called atoms. Atoms are very, very small. They can only be seen with strong microscopes. The smallest part of an element is an atom.

想象一下，你可以看到任何物体的深处。 你会发现一切都是由微小的粒子组成的。 这些粒子叫做原子。 原子非常非常小。 只有用高倍显微镜才能看到它们。 元素的最小部分是原子。

Now imagine that you could look inside an atom. You would see even smaller bits. These bits are called protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons are at the center of the atom. The center of an atom is called the nucleus. Electrons circle the nucleus. All atoms of the same element have the same number of protons and electrons.

现在想象一下你可以看到一个原子的内部。 你会看到更小的碎片。 这些比特被称为质子、中子和电子。 质子和中子位于原子的中心。 原子的中心叫做原子核。 电子围绕原子核旋转。 同一元素的所有原子都有相同数量的质子和电子。