The secret to becoming a top 1% science prodigy!
Story Science: Improving Scientific Literacy

The first children's book by Professor Lee Kwang-ryeol, a national science mentor!
100 Science Talks That Cover Everything from Concepts to Scientific Literacy

Is your child just beginning to explore science with a unique curiosity? This is a must-read for elementary school students on their way to becoming science prodigies!

Professor Lee Gwang-ryeol, known as the 'King of the Lazy' and 'Anam-dong Gwangpaldosa', who has captured the hearts of adults as a science storyteller by shouting 'the usefulness of science', has now stepped forward for children.

Will progressing quickly lead to exceptional skills? Will science become comprehensible simply by doing experiments? Will memorizing more difficult terms and concepts than others put you in the top 1%? Professor Lee Kwang-ryeol unequivocally cites "questioning and storytelling" as his study method.
Any term or concept must be explained in my own words to become my true knowledge. In science, too, the key is ultimately 'literacy.'


This book is a persistent and ambitious guidebook written by a scientist who wants to make Korean children not only science honor students but also enjoy and excel in their studies.
Observe everyday life, ask questions, seek knowledge, and then verbalize it! By joining this book on its journey of storytelling science, you will awaken your curiosity and understanding of scientific principles, and emerge as a scientific genius.

Parents who are apprehensive about the questions their children ask when they're just starting to learn about science, especially if they're from a liberal arts background, don't worry! This book covers even middle school concepts, so reading it with your child will rediscover forgotten scientific concepts. Together, you'll be able to satisfy your child's everyday curiosity with scientific knowledge.

The use of this secret book is simple.
After reading a story, just tell it to your family and friends.
If you can convey the stories presented here in this way, science will not only be easy for you, but will also become a subject that gives you wings.
After reading this book, you will be a completely different person than you were before reading it.
How about it? Why not give this secret book a try?
--- From "A letter from the teacher who wrote this book: To the wonderful friend who opened this book"

Atoms have 'insiders' like carbon atoms (C), but there are also 'outsiders' who are voluntary outsiders.
These are atoms such as helium (He), neon (Ne), and argon (Ar).
These guys really hate hanging out with other atoms.
It never holds hands with other atoms unless it is a very special case.
Don't look down on other atoms.
Atoms can have electrons wrapped in multiple layers.
Just like we wear underwear and outerwear.
If your outer garment is buttoned up, you look neat and presentable, don't you? Among atoms, if the electron buttonholes on your outer garment are fully filled with electrons, you're considered well-dressed.
Helium (He) is wearing a suit with two electronic buttonholes, and both buttons are buttoned up.
The neon (Ne) atom is very neatly dressed in an undershirt with two buttonholes filled and an outerwear with eight buttonholes filled with electrons.
The argon atom has an undergarment of two electrons, an outer garment of eight electrons, and a cloak of eight electrons on top of that.
Atoms that are so well-dressed in electronic clothing are also called 'noble gases'.

How envious must the other types of atoms surrounding these kids be? These five elements—fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At)—are collectively referred to as "halogens," and these halogen atoms have seven electrons in their outermost shell.
It's like missing a button on your coat.
If it had just one more electron, it would have eight electrons on its outermost layer, like a noble gas, so wouldn't it desperately want one more? Oxygen atoms (O) have six electrons on their outermost layer, so they want two more.
So these kids are very greedy.
They are always trying to steal electrons from other atoms.
Many atoms like to have eight electrons surrounding their outermost shell, which is called the 'eight-electron rule'.
--- 「6.
Among the noble helium, neon, and argon

There are many different types of atoms in the world.
Except for the noble aristocratic gas atoms, the rest of the atoms unconditionally want to be with other atoms.
Why is that? There is only one reason.
It's because I'm lonely.
Just like people.
If you go to school and no one greets you warmly, if a friend you always play with gets sick and you have to eat alone, if you come home and find neither mom nor dad there, you'll be very lonely. Even children hate this loneliness, so they make friends and go out together.
When atoms join hands like this and become molecules, we feel at ease and live well.

Two atoms of the same type can live together while dividing everything equally.
Hydrogen atoms join hands with other hydrogen atoms, each donating an electron.
It's not about stealing electrons, it's about 'sharing' them.
But if you get the chance, make other friends too.
Just like how hydrogen atoms meet oxygen atoms to form water molecules.
When atoms share electrons with other atoms and hold hands, it is called a 'covalent bond'.
When one atom completely steals an electron from another atom, ions are created, but inside a molecule, atoms become close friends, covalently bonding together.
--- 「9.
From "When atoms make partners, molecules"

The oxygen in a water molecule likes to be stroked by the hydrogen in another water molecule.
It has a negative charge, but the hydrogen in the water molecule next to it has a positive charge, so it gets close and does this.
“Touch my head!”
This is called a 'hydrogen bond'.
What if there were a lot of kids like this? A kid in the middle of his friends would be so happy.
Your hand is touching another child's head, and your head is being touched by another child.
But what about the kids on the outside? Some can't touch another kid's head, and some feel bad because no one touches theirs.
So the water molecules keep trying to go inside.
He hates being outside.

What if two water droplets met? Would the water molecules on the outside of the droplets cheer?
“Hey! I won’t be lonely anymore!”
Then, the water molecules on the surface reach out and attract each other.
Different water drops came together to form a large water drop.
When a large droplet forms, the number of water molecules on the surface is reduced compared to two small droplets.
The number of happy children is increasing and the number of unhappy children is decreasing.
--- 「28.
Why do small water droplets come together when they meet?

The Earth revolves around the sun once a year.
It flies at almost 29.78 kilometers per second.
Imagine how big the circle the Earth makes as it orbits the Sun in one year.
Fill in the area inside that large circle with puppies.
That's a hell of a lot of puppies, isn't it? The number of puppies is roughly equivalent to the number of water molecules in a single sip of water (about 18 grams) you're drinking.
Are there really that many water molecules? Then, can you imagine how small they are? They're so tiny you can never see them with the naked eye.
When you boil water, it turns into gas.
18 grams of water becomes a gas at 100 degrees and expands to a volume of as much as 30 liters.
It can fill up to 15 2-liter water bottles.
Solids and liquids do not take up much volume, but gases take up a very large volume.

This ability of so many water molecules to transition between liquid and gas can be used to do some very useful things.
Just imagine this.
There is a large drum.
And then you fill this drum with only hot water vapor and close the lid.
And cool the drum in very cold water.
What happens? The vapor that becomes a gas at high temperatures changes into a liquid as the temperature drops.
Then the amount of gas inside the drum would decrease significantly, right? The amount of gas outside the drum would remain the same.
The pressure inside the drum decreases and the pressure outside the drum remains the same, so the drum is crushed inward.

How can I straighten this dented drum without touching it? That's right.
Just heat it again.
As liquid water boils, it turns into gas, and as the gas flies around, it pushes the inside walls of the drum outward, and the drum will return to its original fullness.
Now you know that the more gas molecules trapped in a container, the higher the air pressure, and the fewer gas molecules trapped, the lower the air pressure. This is essential knowledge for safe living, right?

--- 「31.
How many water molecules are in a sip of water? From "Knowledge for Safety"