For this class I am working on explaining electromagnetism. In the last class I introduced magnets. For this class I am going to introduce the atom and start to talk about valence electrons.
The Periodic Table and Elements
First I showed the class a periodic table and said that everything was made up of the matter on this list. The elements are like the alphabet of things. I explained that atoms are the smallest piece of an element. Then I showed some pictures of elements and for some, items they are used in. For example phosphorus is used on the head of matches and mercury is in thermometers. I showed the class was a cartoon of an atom with – marked on the electrons and a + marked on the protons. I said that they were very, very small. there are 1.2 quintilian atoms in one grain of table salt. Then I showed them what the symbols and numbers mean on the periodic table.
Valence (Outer Orbit) Electron Game
After this I had the kids play a game. You can download the file for the pins here. Tmetalnobelgas You’ll need one of these for each kid in the class. Make sure the kids stay sitting for this game. I think it works best for the kids to sit in a semi circle to watch the talk and then they will be there for the game. These are laminated and then taped to the pin on a string. Split the kids into 2 groups and explain their directions to them separately. The noble gas team (Ne and He) will get 2 marbles (He) or 8 marbles (Ne). They will refuse to give their marbles away and won’t take any from anyone. The Copper team (Cu) will each get one marble. They will try to get a second one. Once they have 2 they will try to give them away. If someone asks them for one they will give it away right away.
Electricity Extension of the Game
Once they’ve been doing that for a little bit, start handing more marbles at one end of the group. The kids should pass them more and more towards the other end. This last bit demonstrates what happens with an electric current in a copper wire.
Explanation of Valence Electrons
After the game I explained that atoms want two things. The want to have the same number of electrons and protons so they have no net charge and they also want to have full electron shells. Neon and Helium are noble gases and they have full electron shells. They are happy with their electrons and don’t want to gain or loose any. Copper is missing one electron in their outer shell. Transition metals don’t hold on to their outer electrons very tightly. When a bunch of metal atoms are together their outer electrons are shared by all of the atoms in a type of cloud and they accept more electrons quite easily. This easy movement of electrons is why metals conduct electricity.
Atom Coloring Sheets
For the last activity, I had the kids color in these atom sheets. In this lesson and the next we talked about properties of transition metals. The game in this class demonstrates the conductivity of metals. These sheets can be used to demonstrates magnetism. You can see that iron and nickle have unpaired electrons in the shell below the outer one. I had each student color one of these, but all four were distributed to the class.
Here is what one of them looks like. You can download all of these AtomWorksheets.
Atom Cookies
You can also make atom cookies. For more STEAM activities, take a look at my Pinterest board.