Dear Elementary School Teachers,
Young children learn all kinds of nonsense in school, not the least is the composition of atoms using a model from 125 years ago. It’s cute hearing fourth graders talking of protons, and it’s an easy thing to test, but “knowing” about neutrons, protons, and electrons does nothing for a child’s understanding of the universe.
One important part of the atomic model is that everything is made up of tiny interchangeable bits that can be assorted various ways in various states of stability, but that’s for later in high school, if ever.
The other critical point is that these particles are always moving –*always!*–for reasons we cannot fathom.
Have the kids run around a room screaming “I AM AM MOLECULE I CANNOT STOP MOVING” colliding and a spinning and acting like, well, mindless particles.
It’s why balloons pop, bridges shrink in the cold, why we age, why time itself happens.
And who knows, maybe it will spark the next Rutherford, Curie, or Franklin.
(You can see Brownian motion with a tiny drop of milk in a drop of water focused under a microscope. Amazes me every time….)