LearningJoy Explorers: Science Podcast for Kids
Oct 30, 2026 · 7 min · 9 segments
Melted ice freezes right back, but burned paper never un-burns. Why not? Join us as we snap particle building blocks into brand-new things, find out where a burning log's weight really goes, and watch…
What's the difference? It's all about the particles.
Remember, when ice melts, the water molecules just stick and jiggle differently.
They stay water molecules the whole time, so cooling puts them right back into ice.
So melting is the exact
same particles just doing a new dance.
Exactly! Think of building bricks.
Each molecule is a little model built from bricks, and the bricks are its atoms.
Melting just moves the little models around.
Every model stays whole, so they can line right back up.
And what does burning do to the models? Burning takes the models apart! The paper's molecules break into their atoms, which snap together with oxygen from the air to build brand new molecules, mostly carbon dioxide gas and water vapor.
That's totally different stuff! Not paper anymore! Oh! So
burning is like taking apart my brick house and using the bricks, plus some oxygen bricks, to build a race car!
That's it! When the molecules stay the same, scientists call it a physical change.
When the molecules themselves break apart and build new stuff, like burning paper, toasting bread, or baking a cake, scientists call it a chemical change.
And you
can never untoast toast or unbake a cake! Wait, a heavy campfire log burns down to a tiny pile of ash.
What's the difference? It's all about the particles.
Remember, when ice melts, the water molecules just stick and jiggle differently.
They stay water molecules the whole time, so cooling puts them right back into ice.
So melting is the exact
same particles just doing a new dance.
Exactly! Think of building bricks.
Each molecule is a little model built from bricks, and the bricks are its atoms.
Melting just moves the little models around.
Every model stays whole, so they can line right back up.
And what does burning do to the models? Burning takes the models apart! The paper's molecules break into their atoms, which snap together with oxygen from the air to build brand new molecules, mostly carbon dioxide gas and water vapor.
That's totally different stuff! Not paper anymore! Oh! So
burning is like taking apart my brick house and using the bricks, plus some oxygen bricks, to build a race car!
That's it! When the molecules stay the same, scientists call it a physical change.
When the molecules themselves break apart and build new stuff, like burning paper, toasting bread, or baking a cake, scientists call it a chemical change.
And you
can never untoast toast or unbake a cake! Wait, a heavy campfire log burns down to a tiny pile of ash.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
