WELCOME TO THE REALM OF TINY GIANTS

Words: Bee Rich.

Illustration: Jess Hannigan

Hey AQUILAnaut! Is your brain ready for a workout this month? Do you think your imagination will fit all these giant things inside it? To help you out and free up some space in your brain, let’s try learning about a type of giant that is actually very small. So small, in fact, that we can’t see it with the naked eye! It’s time to turn to chemistry, as we dive into the world of giant molecules.

First, let’s figure out what exactly a molecule is. You might have heard that everything in our universe is made of atoms, which we can think of as tiny building blocks, or very small units of matter. These units come in many different types. There are actually 118 of them – we call each type an element, and you can find them all listed on the periodic table. Every atom is made of the same two parts: a middle part, called a nucleus, surrounded by a bunch of energetic particles called electrons.