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Name: ___________________
Date:___________ Per. _____
Atoms and the Periodic Table Activity
Purpose: To explore and experience the method in which scientists organized the periodic table
Materials List: deck of playing cards (one per group)
Procedure:
1. Take your deck of cards with your group and try to determine an orderly arrangement for their cards. (color,
number, shape?) Be creative!
2. After completing their ordering, choose one card from the arrangement and write a procedure on locating its
position in the arrangement
3. After the procedure, compare this arrangement to the arrangement of the Periodic Table. More specifically,
compare the arrangement that Mendeleev used (based on atomic mass and the elements that were
discovered because of this arrangement) with the modern arrangement created by Moseley (based on atomic
number)
4. Create a vocabulary self-awareness chart for the Periodic Table of Elements with your group by filling out
the table below.
a. The word grid below will help you assess your understanding of the terms involved with the Periodic
Table.
b. Rate your understanding of each word with either a “+” (understand well), a “” (limited
understanding or unsure), or a “-” (don’t know at all).
c. Continue to revisit this chart in order to redefine your understanding as the unit progresses.
d. Be sure to include the charge of the particles, the location where the particles are found, and their
mass in relation to each other”.
Word
atom
element
atomic symbol
proton
electron
neutron
nucleus
atomic number
mass number
average atomic mass
isotope
ions
valence electrons
atomic energy levels
electron cloud
+

-
Example
Definition
Analysis Questions:
1. What challenges did you come across throughout this activity? How might this apply to the challenges
that Mendeleev and Moseley discovered during their particular arrangements as well?
2. Distinguish between Periods and Groups on the periodic table. (Definitions, Locations, Etc.)
3. Lead and mercury are two pollutants in the environment. From information about them in the periodic
table, why are they called ‘heavy metals’?
4. Use the periodic table to list a metal, a metalloid, and a non-metal.
5. From information found on the periodic table, compare and contrast the properties of chlorine and
bromine.
6. What changes in the periodic table would occur in Periods 1 through 4 if the elements were arranged
according to increasing atomic mass instead of atomic number? How do we know that the arrangement
by atomic number is correct?