Periodic table problems

Six months have passed since I started this blog and can you believe it, not once have I mentioned the Chemist's "bible", the Periodic Table...  There are many, many versions of the Periodic Table online, I recommend these two...

WebElements Periodic table

Visual Elements Periodic table

For Senior students, the David Whizzy Periodic table is excellent

 David Whizzy's table (screenshot shown above) has good, clear visuals of the electrons in the s, p, d orbitals along with the charachteristic emission spectrum for each element.

Extension students of all ages may be interested in taking a look at the progression of the Periodic table over the centuries and can view the many different forms of the Periodic table here on the informative Periodic Table Formulations site

A fun way to introduce the Periodic table is with the Tom Lehrer "Elements song" from 1952, as mentioned on my previous blogpost titled "Eurovision song contest"

There is a small selection of periodic tables below which enable students to experience some of the frustrations of the early chemists as they tried to arrange the elements, I'd recommend that students work collaboratively is small groups as they discuss one of all of these.

	Periodic table discovery activity
	Periodic table of extraterrestrial elements
	Merrymen of Matterdom image and teacher guidelines here

I like this 4 minute video from Teachers Domain called "The elements forged in stars", it "illustrates the critical role that the stars play in creating the elements".

and for revising previous knowledge of the Periodic table try this Alien Periodic table with teacher answers here.

and for more Senior students a good challenging problem is the Periodic difficulties with teacher answers here.

and a concept map of the Periodic table from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A finally a Periodic table of Comic books, who would have thought!  The links to elements are a little loose but may certainly inspire your students to think up and then sketch their own cartoon strips that illustrate the properties of, sources of or uses of elements in the Periodic table.

Go the All Whites!!! Who would have thought, good on you New Zealand, that small island on the edge of the Pacific, that was a wonderful goal and unexpected draw against the World Champions.  Best of luck against Paraguay in a few hours time.

Football

"Football is not about life or death. It is more important than that."

Bill Shankley, former manager of Liverpool Football club.

Well it's rolled around again... FOOTBALL (most certainly not soccer!) fever.  I wonder what surprises the FIFA World Cup 2010 has got in store for us?  There have been the usual dramas and injuries leading into these finals, Thierre Henry's "Hand of Frog" didn't go unnoticed by anyone, oh except of course the ref!

Injury has dashed numerous players (and their fans) World Cup dreams, the English and German teams will be the most affected without Beckham, Ferdinand, Ballack, Adler, Traesch and Westermann.  Before it all kicks off, take a trip down memory lane and have a look, a cheer at these top 50 World Cup moments from The Daily Telegraph.

So how can we encorporate the Football World Cup into our science lessons?  Here's a few suggestions...

1) Analysing distance-time graphs, produced by ASE in 2001
Students will look at actual video footage from an FA Cup 4th round match between Manchester United and West Ham United.  It is a little dated as it was played back in 2000, however, there are 6 different stages and students should make a note of the key point for each stage.  The accompanying key point worksheet is here.

2) video "The Science of Football" 
Encourage your students to improve their science knowledge and football skills (with a lot of practice!) after viewing this engaging video on the science of football.

3)  Article "The physics of football" by Physics World 
Senior Physics students may like to read this article which discusses the spin, velocity and forces as a football is kicked with a curve.

Finally, you must have seen the Nike Football "Write the future" adverts.  I like this overwhelmingly positive review on the Nike Football ads from the soccerbible.com

"Starring some of the world’s best players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva... this epic football journey unfolds through a match of goal line clearances, game-winning tackles and lightning footwork that literally send a ripple effect across the world."

Have a fantastic month cheering on your team. Enjoy the excitement, tension and tears of joy. Relish in that sense of camaraderie and the community feel of it all during the most watched sporting event in the world.