Ellie the moth likes to come out at night
to play with all of her other moth friends.
They especially like playing near light, because
bright lights are really pretty and warm.
You can also find Ellie and her friends near
things like lamps, streetlights, and the reflection
of the moon on the lake.
Tonight, Ellie and her friends notice the
flicker of a candle flame by a window. They
are so intrigued by this candle flame, so
they decide to fly closer and closer, until
all the moths are circling the flame, but
trying not to get TOO close in case they get
burned.
Piper the flame notices all these cool moths
flying near her, so she gets really excited
and happy! Piper always has a super positive
attitude. Flickering back and forth with joy,
Piper loves when the Ellie and her friends
come out to play. However, one candle was
not enough for them to play with.
Nina, the candle wax, always sticks by Piper’s
side. Together, they are an inseparable team,
since Piper needs Nina in order to keep shining.
However, Nina is pretty indifferent about
the moths; she really couldn’t care less
about whether Ellie and her friends come out
to play with Piper or not.
Together, Ellie, Piper, and Nina are a happy
trio. Ellie gets to play around Piper, and
Nina is happy to see that Piper is also having
a good time. Everything is perfectly balanced,
as all things should be.
Ellie notices that on the far end of the table,
there is a menorah. Ellie realized it was
Hanukkah, and the menorah had a total of 9
candles for her and her friends. Ellie has
8 other little moth friends with her tonight,
it’s perfect! Each moth gets their own candle
flame to play around with.
In this story, Ellie represents an electron,
Piper represents a proton, and Nina represents
a neutron. Electrons, protons, and neutrons
are the three tiny particles of an atom, and
everything in the world is made up of a lot
of atoms. An electron is negatively charged,
a proton is positively charged, and a neutron
has no charge since it is neutral. Protons
and neutrons stick together to make up the
nucleus, which forms a ball in the center
of the atom. This is why Piper the flame and
Nina the candle wax must always stick together.
Electrons are attracted to the positively
charged nucleus, since opposites attract.
This is why Ellie and her moth friends like
to fly around the candle, since they are attracted
to the light of the flame.
