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Hello, this is Mrs. Winn speaking. This week we have been learning a lot about atomic models
and parts of the atom. We learned that electrons are negative and spin very fast around the
nucleus, protons (the red ones) are positive and live inside the nucleus, and neutrons
are neutral (or have no charge) and also hang out inside the nucleus with the protons. All
of these little parts can be hard to remember, so today you will be doing an activity online
to become more familiar with them.
As you do the online simulation or activity I’m about to show you, you will need your
“Build an Atom Simulation” chart that I emailed to you to fill out. And here it
is.
Ok, let me show you how to download the activity. It is super easy.
Just open Google and type in “PHET”.
It will be the first item to show up in your search.
Click on the “Simulations” link. Now you are going to click on “Chemistry”. Scroll
down until you find the “Build an Atom” simulation and click on it.
Choose the “Run Now” option and the activity should open up shortly.
As you build your atoms (and I will show you in a minute), up here in the left corner it
will tell you how many protons, neutrons and electrons you have.
Over here is a Periodic Table, where it will highlight what element your atom belongs to.
Then if you click on these green plus symbols you will be able to see the Symbol of the
element it belongs to, the Mass Number, and the Net Charge.
Now since we have not learned about charged atoms yet, all of your atoms today will be
neutral or have a charge of zero.
Now I am going to build an atom with one proton and one electron. This is the first one in
your chart.
I am just simply going to drag one proton to the nucleus, and then one electron to the
electron shell. Presto! You now have a Hydrogen atom.
Remember: protons = electrons
Now what is missing? Who lives in the nucleus with the proton? If you guessed the neutron
you are correct! For today we are going to have our protons be equal to the number of
neutrons, so I will add one.
Now you can fill out the rest of the information on your chart for Hydrogen. Its symbol is
H, its mass number is 2 (because the mass number is just the stuff you add up inside
the nucleus), and it will be neutral.
Now just to see, if I were to add another electron, the charge would be negative or
what is called a negative ion, because there is one extra negative.
But for today, our atoms will be neutral.
Figure out what info needs to be added to complete the rest of your chart by using this
activity. When you are finished, please send me your chart along with your answers to the
three questions posted in the Wiki.
Thanks! Enjoy!