Sunday, June 21, 2009

Ms. K's Sophomore Chemistry Class

Hi class! I hope you all enjoyed my introductory lesson on the Periodic Table. Below are a few exercises I would like you to complete for next class. The exercises will help you better understand what we went over in class. They will also prepare you for the next lesson - The Trends in the Periodic Table. What word comes to mind when I say the word Trend? Stay tuned to see how Trends apply to the Periodic Table. 

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Periodic Table - Elements with Style

This is not exactly your typical Periodic Table found in a chemistry textbook. Examine this table and compare and contrast it to the Periodic Table found in your textbook. You can post your answers in the comment section of this post. 
Note: In order to zoom in on this image, simply place your cursor on top of it and right click. 


Which element most resembles your persona?

Using Adrian Dingle Periodic Table from above, choose an element that you most identify with. You will then create a paragraph telling me about yourself, as that element. Specifically, you will tell me how people perceive you, who you associate yourself with (transition metals, alkali metals, etc.), what you are used for, and a few interesting facts. You will follow Dingle's writing style. Here is an example of his writing: 
"My beauty has no bounds. I am named after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty and love, Vanadis. Depending on my state (the charge of my various ions), I can make a rainbow of brilliant and beautiful purple, green, and yellow solution. 

Like most transition metlas, my colorful compounds can be used as catalysts (substances that allow chemical reactions to occur more frequently). I am an essential catalyst in the "contact process" that is used to manufactor sulfuric acid, arguably the most important industrial chemical in the world today. I make up part of a crucial steel alloy that was used in Henry Ford's Model-T cars, so without me, there may never have been an auto industry."(Dingle, 36).

Thinking Outside the Chemistry Classroom

Many of you ask me in class how the periodic table and its contents connect to the real world. This scavenger hunt will show you just this. You will examine the label on a bottle of common multivitamins. Identify the elements listed, the amount present in the multivitamin, and what percent of the element recommended daily is present in the tablet. Then choose two elements in the vitamin and search for foods they are found in. List one food source for each element. Post your answers in the comment section below.