Saturday, September 12, 2015

Elemental Fun

For this activity you will need a modern Periodic Table
(here's one I prepared earlier at http://www.ausetute.com.au/pertable.html )

This activity is designed to let students have some fun while they use a Periodic Table to extract information about elements (names, symbols, atomic number and atomic weight).

Ask the students a question.
Students use a Periodic Table find the answers.
After doing a few of these, the students will usually start making up their own questions and answers.
They can try out their questions/answers on their fellow students (and you!).

Names from Symbols

1. Question: What is candy made of?
    Answer: calcium, nitrogen and dysprosium (Ca N Dy )

2. Question: What ingredients do you need to make chocolate?
    Answer: carbon, holmium, cobalt, lanthanum, tellurium (C Ho Co La Te)

3. Question: What elements make up a body?
    Answer: boron, oxygen, dysprosium (B O Dy)

4. Question: What makes up the atmosphere?
     Answer: astatine, molybdenum, sulfur, phosphorus, helium, rhenium (At Mo S P He Re)

5. Question: Prove that these elements are compounds!

  • xenon (It's made up of xenon, nobelium nitrogen, Xe No N)
  • neon (It's made up of neon, oxygen, nitrogen, Ne O N)
  • iron (It's made up of iridium, oxygen, nitrogen, Ir O N)
  • copper (It's made up of cobalt, phosphorus (twice), erbium, Co P P Er)
  • silver (It's made up of sulfur, iodine, livermorium, erbium, S I Lv Er)
  • arsenic (It's made up of argon, selenium, nitrogen, iodine, carbon, Ar Se N I C)
6. Question: What is the most negative element?
    Answer: nobelium, it always spells No

Symbols from Names

1. Question: What fruit is made up of 1 part barium and two parts sodium?
    Answer: Ba Na Na

2. Question: Can you use potassium, nickel and iron to cut an apple?
    Answer: Yes because they make a K Ni Fe

3. Question: If you add some fluorine, uranium and nitrogen to a game, what will happen?
    Answer: It will be more F U N !

4. Question:  What natural fiber is made up of lithium, neon and nitrogen?
    Answer: Li Ne N 

5. Question: What sort of jokes do chemists make out of cobalt, radon, and yttrium?
   Answer: Co Rn Y jokes.

Symbols from Atomic Numbers (crack the code)

1. Code: 1,18,15 
    Clue: A heavenly musical instrument?
    Answer: harp, H (Z=1), Ar ( Z=18), P (Z=15)

2. Code:  66, 7, 95, 53, 52
    Clue: Explosive stuff!
    Answer: dynamite, Dy(Z=66), N(Z=7), Am(Z=95), I(Z=53), Te(Z=52)

3. Code: 20, 28, 10
    Clue: What a cat is afraid of?
    Answer: canine, Ca(Z=20), Ni(Z=28), Ne(Z=10)

4. Code: 1, 85
    Clue: Head covering?
    Answer: hat, H(Z=1), At(Z=85)

5. Code: 67, 8, 19
    Clue: Somewhere to hang your coat?
    Answer: hook, Ho(Z=67), O(Z=8), K(Z=19)

Molecular Weight from Symbols

1. Question: What is a Chemist's favourite number?
    Answer: 315.02 because it is Lu C K Y (175 + 12.01 + 39.1 + 88.91 = 315.02)

2. Question: What is the molecular weight of a gene?
    Answer: 92.82 because it's made up of Ge and Ne (72.64 + 20.18 = 92.82)

3. Question: What is the value of life?
    Answer: 62.791 Li Fe (6.941 + 55.85 = 62.791)

4. Question: What does a boy weigh?
    Answer: 115.72 B O Y (10.81 + 16.00 + 88.91 = 115.72)

5. Question: How heavy is a phone?
    Answer: 68.158 P H O Ne (30.97 + 1.008 + 16.00 + 20.18 = 68.158)

Words You Can Make Using the First Twenty Elements Only
  • Al O Ne
  • Ar C
  • Ar K
  • B Ar
  • B Ar K
  • B Ar N
  • Be Ar
  • B Li N K
  • B Li S S
  • B O Ar
  • B O Ne
  • B O O K
  • B O S S
  • Ca B
  • C Al F
  • Ca N
  • Ca N Al
  • Ca Ne
  • Ca N O N
  • Ca P
  • C Ar
  • C Ar B O N
  • Ca S H
  • C H O O K
  • C H O P
  • C Li C K
  • C Li F F
  • C Li N K
  • Cl O C K
  • Cl O Ne
  • C O B
  • C O Ne
  • C O O K
  • C O S H
  • F Ar
  • F Li C K
  • F Li P
  • F O Al
  • H Al F
  • H Al O
  • H Ar K
  • H Ar P
  • He Al
  • He Ar
  • H O C K
  • H O N K
  • H O P
  • K Na C K
  • K N O B
  • K N O C K
  • Li Ar
  • Li C K
  • Li Ne
  • Li N K
  • Li P S
  • Li S P
  • Na B
  • Na P
  • Ne O N
  • Ne P Al
  • N O O K
  • O Ne
  • O P Al
  • P Al
  • P Ar
  • P Ar K
  • P H O Ne
  • P O P
  • S Ca N
  • S C O Ne
  • S He
  • S He Ar
  • Si C K
  • Si N
  • Si N K
  • S Li C K
  • S Li P
  • S Na C K
  • S Na P
  • S O B
  • S O C K
  • S O N Ar
  • S P O O K




No comments:

Post a Comment