Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe
Stop memorizing names and start understanding how everything around you is built. From the air you breathe to the phone in your hand, discover how a few simple elements create our entire world.
Like Duolingo, but for Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A deep dive: 108 levels across 6 sections, about 216 minutes end to end, roughly 43 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Spotting Elements in Your Daily Life, Predicting How Elements Will Behave, Mixing and Matching for New Materials, Handling the Rare and Dangerous, The Tiny Engines Inside the Atom, and Where the Elements Came From. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe
- Nitrogen is the most abundant gas
- Oxygen concentration in air
- Argon is the most abundant noble gas
- Nitrogen is unreactive
- Oxygen is diluted
- Atmospheric composition
- Noble gases do not react with other elements
- The relative abundance of gases in Earth's atmosphere
- Argon is used in lightbulbs to prevent the filament from oxidizing
- Pure oxygen can be toxic to human tissues over time
- Why the atmosphere doesn't ignite from a single spark
- The body is evolved for a specific 21% oxygen balance
- Practical applications of noble gas 'laziness'
- The physiological effect of shifting gas balances
- Gas molecules have mass and take up space
- Noble gases are chemically stable
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Which gas is the most abundant in our atmosphere, making up roughly 78% of the air?
Get it right to open this lesson and 107 more in the app.
Where Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe takes you
- 1
Spotting Elements in Your Daily Life
- The invisible gases in your room
- Metals you touch every day
- What makes your snacks salty or sweet
- The hidden ingredients in your smartphone
- 2
Predicting How Elements Will Behave
- Why some metals explode in water
- The loners: elements that refuse to react
- How to read the table's secret map
- The strength of the carbon family
- Why oxygen is so 'greedy'
- The colorful world of transition metals
- 3
Mixing and Matching for New Materials
- How two poisons make table salt
- The recipe for breathable air
- Why steel is stronger than iron
- 4
Handling the Rare and Dangerous
- What makes an element radioactive
- The heavy hitters at the bottom of the chart
- Elements that only exist in a lab
- How we use radiation for good
- The mystery of the rare earth metals
- 5
The Tiny Engines Inside the Atom
- The dance of the electrons
- Why the nucleus stays together
- How atoms share their shells
- The weight of an element
- 6
Where the Elements Came From
- Forged in the heart of a star
- The Big Bang's first three elements
- How supernovas scatter the heavy stuff
- The future of the periodic table
- Why some elements are disappearing
6 sections · 27 units · 108 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe is taught in the Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Science on Tomo
The Tiny World Inside Everything
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The Elements: A Guide to the Periodic Table
Journey through the building blocks of the universe, from the air you breathe to the rare metals in your smartphone. Discover the unique personalities and hidden powers of every chemical family.
Metals: From Shiny Rocks to Superpowers
Discover why some metals explode in water while others stay shiny for centuries. Learn to spot the difference between a soda can and a spaceship wing without ever touching a calculator.
Living on the Red Planet
Ever wondered if you could actually survive on Mars? Discover how we'll find water, build homes in red dust, and search for signs of alien neighbors.
The Secret Life of Energy
Discover how energy moves through everything from your morning snack to the stars in the sky. Learn to spot the invisible forces that make our world go round.
Chemistry: How Matter Works
Understand the hidden rules governing every substance you touch, eat, and breathe. Discover how atomic interactions create the physical world and drive chemical transformations. Learn to see everyday phenomena—from cooking to rust—through the eyes of a chemist.
Start Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe today.
Download Tomo, search Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe, and play your first lesson in under a minute.