Lesson 10:
If an atom has the same amount of protons and electrons, it has no electrical charge. Pennies are made up of copper, which has no electrical charge. Copper atoms can have 34 or 36 neutrons, and this does not effect it’s electrical charge, and it doesn’t make it turn it into another atom. However, if you added more electrons or protons to copper, it would change into a new atom.
When you get a new penny it is very shiny, but old ones begin to darken. This is because the penny’s molecules like to blend in with oxygen, and this creates a new substance called copper oxide. When you put pennies into a cup with water, vinegar, and salt, the copper oxide begins to come off in the water. When you put an iron nail into this same water, it shares its electrons, and it might even pick up copper or copper oxide as it leaves the pennies.
Hippocrates lived around the same time as Democritus. He wasn’t interested in learning about atoms, but the human body. He wanted to understand why some people get sick and how our body heals. He learned that if a sick person rests, he would get better more quickly. He also leaned that if a wound was kept clean and you put alcohol on it, it would heal quickly. He didn’t understand why these things were true, but he was one of the first people to notice that they were true. Hippocrates is known for making the Hippocratic Oath, which is a promise that doctors take (even today) in which they promise to do no harm to their patients.
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