PROBLEM:
Do elements have specific properties that can be identified?

HYPOTHESIS:

MATERIALS:
Periodic Table of the Elements (Painless Learning Placemat),  Physical Science – Elements, one battery (1.5 volt)

 Answer the questions below while looking at the materials listed.

1. Materials:  Periodic Table
   
   Iron, cobalt, and nickel are the only three naturally occurring elements that are magnetic.  These are the elements that magnets are made from.  Iron magnets tend to lose their magnetic properties over time and with increased temperature.  Nickel and cobalt do not lose their magnetism.

1. Find iron, nickel, and cobalt  on the Periodic Table.  What type of metals are they?
   Do you think they may have similar properties? 
   Why?
    

2. AlNiCo magnets are very strong and do not lose their magnetism, what elements do you think they are made from? 
    

3. Neodymium magnets are made up of Nd₂Fe₁₄B and are some of the strongest magnets for their size on the market.  What elements are they made up of? 
    

2. IRON  has been used by humans since 3000 BC by the Egyptians use used it for tools and weapons.  Iron is plentiful and very useful to humans.  Molten iron can dissolve carbon, producing an alloy known as steel.  Without steel we could not have tall buildings.
   
   Materials:   magnetic marble, ring magnet, lodestone, compass
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
   
   The grey, heavy mineral is called magnetite or commonly loadstone.  Magnetite is made up of Fe₂O₃.  It is considered an ore of iron.  You would heat magnetite under extreme temperatures and the oxygen will turn into gas, and pure iron will be left. 
    

1. Place the ring magnet near the lodestone, what happens?
    
2. Place the compass on a table top and move the piece of loadstone around the compass.  What happens?
    
3. What property do the magnet and the loadstone share?
    
4. Hold the compass in your hands.  Does it point in one particular direction?
   Move the north word to correspond to the direction of the floating needle  (red side) and you can find the other directions.
    
5. Look at the magnetic marble with iron files on its outer surface.    The center of the Earth is partly composed of iron and nickel.  Does the Earth behave like this magnetic marble? 
   How?   

3. NICKEL has been known for thousands of years as producing greenish colors associated with glass.  Nickel is very hard with a silvery white appearance.  When added to other metals it helps to strengthen the final alloy.
   
   Materials: nickel, five cents, ring magnet
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. The grey, rectangular piece of metal is nickel.  Place the ring magnet on top of the metal piece.  What happens?
    
2. Now place the magnet on top of the 5 cent nickel.  What doesn't happen?
    
3. Do you think the 5 cent nickel and the nickel metal are the same?
   How are they different? 
   Why do you think a 5 cent piece is called a “nickel?”
    
4. Iron (26), cobalt (27), and nickel (28) are next to each other on the periodic table.  From what you know so far about iron and nickel what property do you think cobalt also exhibits?

4. COPPER   has a characteristic orange-brown color.  It is a soft metal which is used in many products today from pipes to wire.  Copper has been used as far back as 9000 BC as people learned to refine copper from different ores.  Copper is a great conductor of electricity.
   
   Materials:  Grain of wheat bulb, copper, penny,  battery
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. Copper has a particular property that allows it to be used in wires.  Using the battery and copper pieces, try to make the light bulb on the grain of wheat glow.  Place the metal flat on the table top.  Spread the ends out a bit.  Place each of the pieces of copper upright on the ends of the wire.  Place the battery between the pieces of copper.  Bring the pieces of copper in contact with the ends of the battery.  What happens?
    

2. Repeat the experiment with a penny.  What happens?
   Are pennies and copper related?
   How?

5. SILICON    is the second most abundant element in the Earth.  It combines with oxygen (the most abundant element in the Earth) to produce the most abundant mineral, quartz. Silicon is a semiconductor used in the computer industry.  Copper is a conductor because it freely allows electricity to flow through it. A semiconductor can be chemically altered in order to allow more or no passage of electricity through it. The shiny grey mineral is man-made silicon.
   
   Materials:  silicon, obsidian, silicon chip

   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. The black rock is called obsidian or volcanic glass.  It is composed of silicon and oxygen. Examine both the obsidian and silicon.  Do they have any similarities?  Look at the breakage point on each of the pieces.  Do they look alike?
    
2. Look inside the cube and you can see a computer chip.  What are they made of?

6. LEAD is a very soft metal that has a shiny blue-white appearance when first cut, but dulls quickly when exposed to air due to oxygen interacting (oxidation) with the lead to make a small film.  Lead is found in ores, usually one mineral galena is used (Pb₂S).    It is used in lead-acid storage batteries in your car and also shields you from x-rays in the dentist office.  
   
   Materials:  lead
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. Take the flat piece of lead in your hands.  Can you bend it?
   Lead is a very pliable metal.  It can be easily bent, but doesn't break.
    
2. Pencils have "lead" inside them.  This "lead" is made from carbon.  How do you know that the "lead" inside a pencil is not really lead?

7. ALUMINUM   is the most abundant metal on the surface of the Earth, only the non metals oxygen and metalloid silicon are more abundant.  The process to extract aluminum was not found until 1807.  Aluminum is a bluish-white metal that is highly bendable.  It is noted for its lightweight construction material and a good conductor of heat and electricity, as well as wrapping sandwiches (aluminum foil).
   
   Materials:  foil, aluminum
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. Aluminum is a very light metal.  It can be used to build structures that must be light.  Describe the piece of aluminum?
    
2. What is this foil made of?
   Why do you think aluminum can be used to make soda cans? 
   Why aren't metals like iron or nickel used?

8. SULFUR is a pale yellow, brittle solid that has no taste.  Although pure sulfur has no smell, when it comes into contact with oxygen and moisture in the air it creates sulfur dioxide which has as rotten egg smell.   Sulfur is a nonmetal and used in medicines to manufacture of sulfuric acid to gunpowder.    
   
   Materials:  sulfur, pyrite
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. Sulfur is a non-metal.  It has a characteristic yellow color.  It is often found near volcanoes and hot springs.  Smell the sample of sulfur.  Can you detect any type of odor?
    
2. Sulfur containing compounds often have a rotten-egg smell.  If you light a match and blow it out how does it smell? 
   What do you predict is a component of the match tip?
    
3. Iron sulfide is pyrite a mineral also called “fool’s gold.”  Where does the yellowish character of pyrite come from? 
   Where does the dense character of pyrite come from?

9. CARBON   comes in several forms including graphite and diamond.     Common charcoal and coal are made up of carbon from biological sources and the gem diamond and graphite would be derived from non-biological carbon.    We will discuss carbon in more detail in later chapters because it is the element along with hydrogen and oxygen that are the basics of life.
   
   Materials:  graphite, bituminous coal
   
   Symbol: _____        Atomic Number: _____     Atomic Mass: _____
   
   # protons  _______   # neutrons   ________   #  electrons   ______
    
   Valence-shell configuration _______________________________
    

1. Compare the two specimens of carbon.  What are the differences?
   What are their similarities?
    
2. Which one of these forms would work best as the “lead” in a pencil?