Story of a Food Atom (Updated)

Background:

You were rushing to get to school on time and dropped your breakfast food!

Your Job: Tell the story of a single atom as it moved from the environment into your breakfast food and what happens after it is dropped.

Choose one atom in that food item and explain the story of how it got there in the first place and what happened to it next if no human picks it up and it remains in the environment.

• Describe the food item the atom is a part of as well as the food molecule it is part of.
• Follow your atom through at least one plant, one animal, and one decomposer.
• Be sure to name the molecules your atom is added to and is broken apart from throughout its journey!
• There are possibly multiple paths your atom can take, but you only need to choose one for your story.
• Explain how your atom gets from one point to the next.
• You can use evidence from your notebook to help you tell your story.

Outline: Beginning

Plan how your atom's story begins.

What is your breakfast food?

What atom is the main character for your story?

Choose oxygen, hydrogen, or carbon.

What molecule is your atom starting as in the environment?

Choose either CO2 or H2O

Where in the environment is your starting molecule found?

Choose the air or the soil.

Outline: Tracking your atom's journey: plant and animal.

Your atom is either water or CO2. What plant does it enter and how does it enter?

When choosing the plant, keep in mind that your atom needs to end up in your breakfast food of choice from a plant or from an animal that ate a plant. Choose wisely.

Now that the molecule your atom is a part of is in the plant, what process does it take part in?

Where does the process you identified take place in the plant?

What molecule is your atom a part of now?

Is your atom going to stay in that molecule? If not, what else might happen to your atom?

Did an animal consume the plant that your atom is in?

If no, describe how your atom gets into your breakfast food.

If yes, describe the following:

• What animal is consuming the plant?
• How does the molecule your atom is a part of enter the animal?
• Does the molecule that your atom is a part of change? If yes, say what the new molecule is.
• How does your atom get into your breakfast food?

Outline: Tracking your atom: decomposer.

At this point in the story, your atom is part of a food molecule that is in your breakfast food. You have dropped your food on the ground and it is resting there.

There are many organisms that will decompose your breakfast food. Which type of organism is going to decompose the part with your atom in it?

Choose bacteria, fungi (mushroom or mold), or worms.

What process or processes does your atom take part in once inside the decomposer?

In what part of the decomposer is the process you identified happening?

What molecule is your atom a part of now, and where does it go?

Use your outline above to write a story about your atom's journey. Feel free to give your atom human-like characteristics, dialogue, or use other story-elements to make your story creative and fun!