Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe
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.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
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
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.
- 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.
You pick the voice
Mastering the Building Blocks of the Universe is taught in the 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
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The Secret Life of Energy
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The Living World Around You
Stop seeing just plants and animals and start seeing the invisible systems that keep life moving. Learn how your body works, how nature stays in balance, and the secrets hidden in your DNA.
Quantum Physics in Your Pocket
Stop thinking about abstract equations and start seeing the quantum world in your everyday life. Discover how the strange rules of the tiny make your phone work, your toaster glow, and your cat (theoretically) immortal.
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.