And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Psst, hey, smarty pants, tell me this.
What is the smallest thing you own?
Think about it for a second, then shout out your answers.
No, baby siblings don't count.
I want you to think about something really, really small.
Puppies are small, but I'm sure you have smaller.
Oh, I heard somebody say an eraser.
Okay, that could work.
Oh, a Lego figure's head.
Not bad.
Ah, I heard dice, buttons, beads, pencil points.
Yep, all very small things.
But you know what?
They can be made smaller.
All right, look out, folks.
Uh, what are you doing?
I'm going to cut this ice cream sprinkle in half.
With a chainsaw.
I'm a lumberjack.
What else would I use?
Stand back.
Goggles on.
But I don't think you can...
There you go.
Wow, you did it.
See, smarty pants?
Even something as small as an ice cream sprinkle can still be cut in half.
But a half sprinkle can be made even smaller.
What, you want smaller?
Why didn't you say so?
Here you go, a quarter sprinkle.
Wow, you are really good with that chainsaw.
Thanks.
But you can still cut the quarter sprinkle in half.
And cut that in half.
And that in half. and over and over and over until you can't see it anymore.
Oh, boy.
Are we done?
Not if you can still cut.
If I can see it, I can cut it.
Yep.
Even microscopic things can be cut in half, over and over and over again until eventually you wind up with something so incredibly small.
It cannot be cut anymore with the usual tools.
Looks like my work here is done.
So tell me, smarty pants, what do we call this super small object?
Is it A, a molecule, B, an atom, or C, an Ant-Man?
If you guessed B, atom, you're right.
Atoms are considered the basic building blocks of matter.
But do they really matter?
Well, yes.
And, uh, who are you?
The name's Adams.
Wednesday Adams.
Wednesday Adams?
As in the Adams family?
No.
Adams.
A-T-O-M-S.
As in the things you were talking about.
The basic building blocks of matter.
I'm the reason you did all that slicing.
I like slicing stuff.
Um, right.
So how are atoms a part of absolutely everything?
Has anyone ever seen one?
And if not, how do we know atoms exist?
I can answer that.
Hold on, Wednesday.
We need our theme song first.
Right.
This is one of those cheerful podcasts.
Go ahead, play your little song.
Oh, thanks.
It's time for another whiff of science on...
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who's Smart?
Smarty Pants, you ready to hear something that's truly amazing?
Did you know everything that exists from great big mountains to tiny little ants is made from atoms?
The chair you sit on has atoms.
Smartphones have atoms.
Your face, your hair, your fingernail, everything about you, all made of atoms.
Even the birds in the air.
Cars on the road.
And the monsters in the sewer.
All contain atoms.
You know there are no monsters in the sewer, right?
I've checked.
Yes, Wednesday Adams, I know that.
It was just a silly example.
Fun.
So, Smarty Pants, how is it that so many different objects can be made with the same thing?
Thing has nothing to do with this.
He's at school.
No.
By thing, I meant particle.
Smarty Pants, why does everything on Earth contain atoms?
Because it does.
But why?
Fine.
To answer that, you must know the history of atoms.
Okay, smarty pants, when do you think atoms first appeared?
Is it A when the Earth was created, B shortly after the solar system formed, or C near the start of the universe, also known as the Big Bang?
Wednesday.
Care to say the answer?
No, I don't care.
But I'll say it anyway.
Atoms aren't just on Earth or the solar system.
They're everywhere throughout the universe.
The answer is C, after the Big Bang.
Good job if you got that right, Smarties.
Scientists believe, when the universe began, it was incredibly hot and dense.
Within the first few minutes of existence, it started to cool down, forming super small particles, even smaller than atoms.
These particles are known as quarks.
Uh, Wednesday?
Yes.
Quack.
Is there a duck here?
Do you see a duck?
Quack.
Well, I can't see it.
First, atomic particles are too small to see with your naked eye.
Second, this is a podcast, and you can't see a podcast.
Quack.
Also, I don't think he's saying quack.
He's not.
He's saying the name of the particle you were talking about.
The particle that formed at the start of the universe.
It's called a... Quark.
Ah, he's saying quark.
As the universe cooled in its first few minutes, tiny particles called quarks merged together to create larger particles called protons and neutrons.
These first protons and neutrons combined to form what would become the center of an atom, the nucleus.
But these new protons and neutrons... made from quarks, needed another ingredient to become atoms.
Smarty pants.
You might remember from past Who Smarted episodes like the ones on electricity and thunderstorms that protons are positively charged particles.
Do you remember what protons are attracted to?
Here's a hint.
They are particles with a negative charge.
Quark!
Yes, and they formed at the same time as quarks.
Are they A, elevators, B, elections, or C, electrons?
The answer is C, electrons.
But it wasn't easy capturing electrons.
Just like it's not easy capturing rodents for dinner.
Uh, right.
Electrons were zipping all over the hot universe and temperatures needed to cool way down for protons to capture them.
Scientists believe protons nabbed their first electrons some 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
Not really a long time after, compared to the billions of years that have passed since then.
Electrons began to orbit the combined protons and neutrons, kind of like planets orbiting a star.
And when an electron orbits a proton, you have...
An atom.
That's right, Wednesday.
The first atoms formed two gases.
No, not that type of gas.
I'm talking about the most common gases in the whole universe.
Smarty pants, do you know what they are?
Hydrogen?
Oxygen?
Helium?
Nitrogen?
If you said hydrogen and helium, you're right.
And yes, that's the same helium used to fill up balloons.
I prefer sheep bladders filled with helium.
Well, I suppose that works, too.
Helium and hydrogen are the simplest gases, since hydrogen atoms have just one proton and helium atoms have just two protons.
Gravity forced these gases together to become stars.
And inside stars.
Atoms took on more protons and electrons, creating heavier gases such as oxygen and nitrogen.
When stars exploded, these new gases were sent throughout the universe.
And as more cooling happened, atoms combined to form molecules, leading to the creation of planets rocks, water and eventually, plants and animals.
All from the atoms formed at the start of the universe and developed in stars.
You know what that means.
We're all stars.
You got it.
Of course, in my book, I'd say you all are superstars.
I have a book, too.
It's for plotting revenge.
Yeah, that's not the kind of book I was talking about.
That's disappointing.
Anywho, smarty pants.
Now that we know where atoms come from and how they're in everything, when do you think people first realized they existed?
Is it A, in the 1930s?
B, in the 1890s?
C, during the Middle Ages?
Or D, in ancient times?
The answer is D.
Over 2400 years ago, a Greek scientist and philosopher named Democritus concluded that all matter can be cut in half until it reaches a point where it can't be cut anymore.
And that point is what?
Did you say the atom?
The word atom comes from a Greek word meaning indivisible.
Ah, but is that true?
Smarty pants, true or false?
Atoms cannot be split in half.
I just said atom means indivisible.
I know, and that's what people used to think.
However, the answer, in fact, is false.
I've been lied to. really a lie, just an advancement in science.
As we mentioned before, the nucleus of an atom contains subatomic particles called neutrons and protons.
And scientists found a way to pull them apart, basically splitting an atom in half.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Whoa.
Question.
How can you split something so small you can't even see it?
That's a good question.
But smarty pants, has anyone ever seen an atom?
We'll answer that after this quick break.
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Now back to Who Smarted?
Smarty Pants, just to give you an idea as to how small an atom truly is.
Next time you have a sheet of loose-leaf paper, I want you to look at the edge.
Try holding it so you can barely even see the paper anymore.
That super thin edge of paper is about half a million atoms thick.
That's incredibly small.
To see an atom, you must need a super powerful microscope.
Smarty pants.
True or false?
You can see an atom through a microscope.
The answer is actually false.
You can't see an atom through a regular microscope, no matter how powerful it is.
Whoa.
That's because microscopes use light, just like your eyes do.
You see something when light bounces off of it.
But light doesn't bounce off atoms because atoms are smaller than visible light itself.
So scientists use other methods to view atoms, including a device you'll find at your dentist's office.
Does it cause pain?
Is it the drill?
No, sorry to disappoint you, again.
Smarty pants, this is something your dentist uses to see the insides of your teeth.
Do you know what it's called?
That's right, the x-ray.
X-rays can bounce off atoms.
So scientists have used them to figure out an atom's properties.
And in the 1980s they developed a special kind of scanning device that can trace an atom and create a model of one that people can actually see.
With new technology and experiments over the last hundred or so years, scientists have learned a ton of information on the structure and behavior of atoms, including how to break them apart.
I like breaking things apart.
Scientists have found that atoms with a lot of protons can be split into smaller atoms through a process called nuclear fission.
This complicated process releases a massive amount of energy, and its discovery led to two things.
The first, nuclear weapons, the most powerful bombs in the world.
The second, nuclear energy, which now provides about 10% of all the world's electricity.
It seems little atoms like myself can make a big impact on the world.
For sure.
And scientists are still looking at other ways to use atoms to make electricity, which would be better for our environment and all creatures on Earth.
Wark!
Including invisible ducks.
An atomic shout out to Sebastian, Liam, and Juniel in Pleasantville, New Jersey.
We're so glad that you love listening to Who Smarted on your way to school and we love being part of your morning smarting routine.
Thanks for learning and laughing with us.
This episode Atoms was written by Dave Big Bang Beaudry and voiced by Gia Nucleus Davis, Adam Baum Davis and Jerry Kolber.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hydrogen Hahn.
Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Atomic Mass Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Isotope Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
Who's smarter?
