Summer SAVY 2016 (Session 2, Day 3) – It’s Elemental

Posted by hallep on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 in Grade 1, Grade 2, SAVY.

Today in It’s Elemental we focused on the periodic table and the elements. We started out by discussing how to read the boxes on a periodic table. For example if we look at the box for Germanium we can see that it has an atomic number of 32, indicating that an atom of Germanium has 32 protons. The atomic mass can be used to identify the amount of neutrons in an atom. We studied how Dmitri Mendeleeve investigated the elements in order to arrange into a chart that we now know as the Periodic Table. Since then it has been added to throughout the years and some mistakes corrected. We practiced skills Mendeleeve used by putting together our own table of aliens based on their different properties. We learnt about several elemental properties such as reactivity, melting points, and boiling points. There was an interesting demonstration that showed how pennies after 1982 are made by coating Zinc with Copper instead of pure copper. Since Zinc is more reactive then Copper new pennies can react with acids while old pennies do not. Then we completed an activity where we identified an unknown solid based on its solubility in water and its reactivity with an acid (vinegar). Then started an activity on the density of liquids. It was an exciting day today and tomorrow we will focus on chemical reactions, meaning we get to do a great lab on identifying chemical reactions.