Publisher's Synopsis
Tom-the-Atom represents the Carbon Atom, the most crucial atom in the Universe. A series of illustrated science books for children and adolescents. The young reader will become familiar with the world of atoms, which make up all the material in the Universe; the Earth, the planets, the stars, and you and me. The young reader is invited to become part of the World of Atoms and to develop his/her understanding of how atoms form everything. Tom-the-Atom, Book 8: A cup of Calcium a day, keeps your teeth and bones from breaking away!Tom-the-Atom introduces representatives of the Alkaline Earth family, Column 2 in the Periodic Table: Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg). Atoms from Group 2A have only two valence electrons in their outermost shell. They prefer to lose them and keep their inner shell full, to be stable, rather than hunting for six additional valence electrons and filling their outermost shell with eight valence electrons. When they lose those two electrons, the atoms became charged twice positively (because they lost two negative electrons. They are then called divalent positive ions (divalent Cations).
