You can also use the periodic table to develop students’ research and presentation skills. Assign each student a different element and ask them to find out and present key pieces of information to the group. Together you can build a class periodic table with this work. The RSC interactive periodic table is a good place to start researching. A horizontal row in the periodic table. The atomic number of each element increases by one, reading from left to right.

Commercial use of the Images will be charged at a rate based on the particular use, prices on application. In such cases we would ask you to sign a Visual Elements licence agreement, tailored to the specific use you propose. A commonly used classroom activity is to identify and colour code elements which are liquids and gases at room temperature. While this helps students to familiarise themselves with the position of certain elements, it can lead to the misunderstanding that other elements can’t exist as gases and liquids. To challenge this idea, trying asking students to identify an alkali metal that is in the liquid state at 100°C. Odd one out’ activities require students to justify their choices, providing you within an insight into their thinking. For example, ask them to look at the images above and decide which one doesn’t fit. Progression to 14–16 The elements in a group show patterns in their physical properties such as melting or boiling point, thermal conductivity and density. They have similar chemical reactions with, for example, oxygen. Next move onto contexts that show a link between a physical attribute and a property. A good example is the string section of an orchestra, which has different-sized instruments. The smallest instruments sit at one side and play the highest notes, while the biggest are at the other side and play the lowest notes.

Chemistry in its element: lithium

Analogies are a powerful way to help students understand the complexities of chemistry. We can use different classification systems from everyday life to help students understand how the periodic table classifies elements. The percentage of a commodity which is recycled. A higher recycling rate may reduce risk to supply.

W. M. Haynes, ed., CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press/Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, FL, 95th Edition, Internet Version 2015, accessed December 2014. A percentile rank for the political stability of the top producing country, derived from World Bank governance indicators. Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants, Kaye & Laby Online, 16th edition, 1995. Version 1.0 (2005), accessed December 2014.The percentage of the world reserves located in the country with the largest reserves. The higher the value, the larger risk there is to supply. Start with analogies that students are likely to be familiar with, before moving on to less familiar examples. The layout of supermarkets is a good place to start. In a supermarket, food is grouped in different aisles according the characteristics and properties of the food – for example: fruit and vegetables, bakery, meat, dairy, cereals. A vertical column in the periodic table. Members of a group typically have similar properties and electron configurations in their outer shell. J. S. Coursey, D. J. Schwab, J. J. Tsai, and R. A. Dragoset, Atomic Weights and Isotopic Compositions (version 4.1), 2015, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, accessed November 2016.

The transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through a liquid phase. Now take a look at a group of metals or non-metals such as the alkali metals or halogens. Demonstrate how the properties change as you go down the group. This can be done by looking up data such as melting points, and density and/or with practical demonstrations. Encourage students to look for patterns in reactivity and compare this reactivity to the position of the element in the periodic table. So, if you wanted to buy some butter, you would need to know this is a dairy product and go to the dairy aisle.Describe and model the structure of the atom in terms of the nucleus, protons, neutrons and electrons; comparing mass and charge of protons neutrond and electrons. An integrated supply risk index from 1 (very low risk) to 10 (very high risk). This is calculated by combining the scores for crustal abundance, reserve distribution, production concentration, substitutability, recycling rate and political stability scores. The mass of an atom relative to that of carbon-12. This is approximately the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. Where more than one isotope exists, the value given is the abundance weighted average. Introduce students to a range of different elements in the table by asking them to classify them as metals or non-metals. Then ask them to find the symbol on the periodic table. After repeating this with a number of elements, they will soon start to build up a picture and discover that metals are on the left-hand side of the table and the non-metals on the right.