Week 6: Atoms and Molecules

I think the banana smell has left the room! Thank goodness because I don't think we could observe them one more week. Here is a video of what we did with this lab.

 
Now that we are done with describing matter, let's look at matter at a microscopic level. If I told you that matter was made of up billions of specks too small for the human eye to see, would you believe me? Of course you would! These really tiny particles are known as atoms.  So how small are they you ask? Well let's turn to this really awesome video on the atom!

Okay, so let's quickly review:

1. What is all matter composed of?
2. How small is an atom?
3. What does the atom contain?
4. Where does most of the atom's mass come from?
5. What is between the nucleus and the electrons?

How does an atom differ from a molecule? 

Atoms are the building blocks of all matter. This means that everything is composed of the atoms currently known to man. Unfortunately we can't just walk up to an atom and look at it because it is to small for the naked eye.  However, if we could get our hands on really fancy (and expensive) science equipment we could probably get to see what an atom looks like. Atoms are composed of two main areas: the electron cloud and nucleus. If we zoom even further into the two areas we would come across even smaller particles (subatomic) called protons, electrons, and neutrons. Protons and neutrons are found in the nucleus of the atom while the electrons are moving around the nucleus within the election cloud. 

If you recall from last week, elements are formed from the same type of atom.  In other words, the hydrogen element is composed of millions of hydrogen atoms. This is why it is a pure substance. (Oh look, another vocabulary word from last week!) When we take two or more elements (of the 118 to choose from) and bond (combine) them together we have molecules. Some molecules like to share electrons while others have more of a give-and-take partnership, but more on that later.  

In order to know how many elements are contained in a chemical bond we look to the chemical formula for the answer.  The chemical formula is composed of letters and numbers that indicate the ratio of elements within a bond.  Water or H2O means that there are two hydrogen (H) atoms to one oxygen (O) atom in every water molecule (see image below).

See this image in video by clicking here.

Later this week we are going to do something called Paper Blogging. This video is similar to what we are going to do.  

By the way, I came across this e-chapter and thought I would share it with you. It covers many of the topics we've been and will cover.

Other Helpful Resources for this week:
Subatomic Particles (Practice Quiz)
Atomic Structure (Practice Quiz)
The Atom Quiz 

Week 5: Hunting the Elements

Okay so far we have talked about ways in which to describe matter

• Physical properties
• Physical changes
• Chemical properties
• Chemical changes
• States of Matter (motion of particles)
• Changes of States
• Pure Substances (elements and compounds)
• Mixtures (homogeneous and heterogeneous)
• Atoms*
• Molecules*

*We will talk about these for another couple of weeks.

After a long weekend and a test (or video productions), it's time to go on a hunt of the elements. We have been talking about the elements for a few days and now it's time to see elements in action. Here is a snapshot of where we are headed this week! No 80s clothes or scratchy footage in this awesome video!




Good luck on Tuesday's test! See YOU in the classroom!
Matter Practice Test

And Here's Where Your Journey Begins

The world is really amazing and to think all that we can see around us is made up of one thing: atoms.  That's right! Over 100 elements--alone or in various combinations--make up everything we use, eat, and even take for granted.  When you go grocery shopping, have you ever taken a look at the nutrition label on the items in your cart?  Perhaps you've wondered about the materials used in a computer chip.  Why does a cold glass of lemonade look like it's sweating on a hot summer day? Maybe the fact that using a neodymium magnet to extract the iron from iron-fortified cereal seems gross, yet pretty cool at the same time! Then again maybe you're wondering how something so much smaller than the sharpened point of a pencil can be responsible for everything around you!

(c) M. Prince 2012

All matter (which has mass and takes up space) is made up of atoms.  Matter falls under four different states of matter and goes though energy processes in order to change from one state to the next.  Just like you and another person are different from one another so are atoms.  Each atom has unique qualities that set it apart from the next one.  Tee properties of each atom help us to identify matter.  For instance, if I asked you to describe  an ear of corn, how would you describe it? What about play doh? What makes an ear of corn and play different from each other?  

When we look at the nature of matter here are some things I want to you think about?

• How has the concept of matter shaped how we see our world and the things around us?
• How can I symbolically or physically represent models of atoms, compounds, particle movement, and the law of conservation of matter to understand the concept better?
• How can I describe the differences of matter according to mass, volume, shape, and particle arrangement?
• How do I know if a mixture is homogeneous or heterogeneous?
• How do I know if a substance is an element or a compound?
• How would I describe the Law of Conservation of Matter?

These are the things I want to you inquire about as we start are new unit on the nature of matter.