The periodic table

I'm moving on from Atomic Structure to The Periodic Table.  The Periodic Table gathers a great deal of information in one place and organizes it -- knowledge of it is essential for the chemistry student.

There are many different tables with different organization.  Remind your students that if they're using a new Periodic Table, to read the key (if provided) and make sure where the atomic number and the mass number are in the table.  If there isn't a key, the atomic number can easily be found because it's a whole number and the entire Periodic Table is organized around it and increases by exactly one each box in the sequence.

The mass number provided isn't a whole number because it is a weighted average of the naturally occurring isotopes of the element.  I'll talk about the math related to that weighted average in another posting.

There are a lot of videos about the Periodic Table on the Internet, several produced by students -- it's your choice to review them.

This movie is older, but it's one of my favorites and I used it for several years -- btw, it's 25 minutes long.  It's a fun overview, and the animation at the end amused many of my students.  (I know the beginning is a little warped, but once it starts, it's just fine.)

I know the "Diamonds are Forever" sequence is a little corny -- that's where the film shows its age.  I just call it "retro".  ;-)

The table below is a basic overview -- it doesn't have all of the information I would share, but it's a start:

I would add common names at some point -- a) Group 1 -- Alkali Metals, b) Group 2-- Alkaline Earth Metals, c) Groups 3 - 12 == Transition Metals, d) Group 17 -- Halogens, and e) Group 18 -- Noble Gases.

Different numbering systems are used for the groups, right now I'm just opting to use 1 - 18, keeping it simple.

Another aspect students are responsible for are the trends in atomic radius, ionization energy and electronegativity (noted as electron affinity in the picture below).

This diagram summarizes the trends:

This page has a nice summary of all of this information:

http://faculty.sdmiramar.edu/fgarces/zCourse/All_Year/Ch100_OL/aMy_FileLec/04OL_LecNotes_Ch100/03_AtomsElements/306_PeriodicTable/306_PeriodicTrends.htm

Here's one worksheet to use as a class:

Here's a blank Periodic Table form.  It can be photocopied and used for a lecture noting major groups and their common names, trends of various aspects of the table, and highlighting important "focal points", such as Fluorine, the most active nonmetal, at the top right, and Francium, the most active metal, at the bottom left.

Laboratories to perform are a little limited during this unit, but basic chemical reactions are always an option.  Also, there are pen/paper activities that graph the trends of the table.

Here are a couple:

http://www.kwanga.net/chemnotes/periodic-trend-graph-lab.pdf

http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/chempdfs/PeriodicTrends.pdf

*I'd love to hear from you -- tell me about your lab experiences, ask your questions, or share your  ideas for other topics for this blog!

For other lab ideas, check out my lab book "Chemistry on a Budget" at amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

Each lab is presented with two possible report formats -- both with the same procedure -- one with 10 questions to be answered as a conclusion, the other with a full laboratory report required.  This was to give the teacher the option of what type of report is desired! 

Have a good week!