ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Nucleic acid

Nucleic acids are like tiny instruction manuals for living things. You know how you follow a recipe to make a cake? Well, nucleic acids are like the recipe book for your body.

There are two types of nucleic acids: DNA and RNA. DNA is the long-term storage of the instructions, like putting your recipe book on the shelf where you can find it later. RNA is like flipping through the recipe book to find the recipe you want to make right now.

The instructions in nucleic acids are made up of building blocks called nucleotides. Think of each nucleotide as a letter in the recipe book. When you put a lot of letters together in a specific order, you get a word. When you put a lot of nucleotides together in a specific order, you get a gene.

Genes are like different recipes for different parts of your body. Some genes tell your hair to be a certain color, while others tell your heart how to beat. They're all different, but they're all important.

In summary, nucleic acids are instruction manuals for living things. DNA stores the instructions long-term, while RNA helps make the recipes right now. Nucleotides are the building blocks of these instructions, and genes are like individual recipes that make up the whole instruction manual.