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Created 3/29/16. Updates available online.

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Build an Atom - Guided-Inquiry Activity A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines.



Title Build an Atom - Guided-Inquiry Activity
Description The learning goals of this guided-inquiry activity are as follows -- Students will be able to, Students will be able to: (1) Use information about the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons to, identify an element and its position on the periodic table, determine whether an atom is neutral or an ion, and predict the charge and determine the mass of an atom or ion; (2) Relate the number of protons, neutrons and electrons to representations, including atomic symbols and the symbols found on the periodic table; and (3) Explain: element symbol, charge, atomic number, mass number, and isotope.
Subject Chemistry
Level Undergrad - Intro
Type Guided Activity
Duration 60 minutes
Answers Included No
Language English
Keywords atomic number, atomic symbol, electrons, ion, isotope symbol, isotopes, mass number, neutrons, protons
Simulation(s) Build an Atom (HTML5), Build an Atom

Author(s) Timothy Herzog, Emily Moore
Contact Email phethelp@colorado.edu
School / Organization PhET
Date submitted 11/5/14
Date updated 6/23/15

Comments

This activity is OUTSTANDING! These documents are the best I have seen to date on the PHET website, and I use PHET and associated docs a lot with my students! Thank you so much! Kathryn   10/15/15

Glad this activity was so helpful. Be sure to look for more activities on our site that were written by these authors. Amy   10/19/15

Is there an answer key for this investigation? Looks great! Kaitlin   10/22/15

There is not an answer key for this PhET-created activity. If you have any specific questions about the activity, please feel free to contact us at phethelp@colorado.edu and we will do our best to help you out. Amy   10/26/15

I used this activity last year for the first time and it went great! Looking forward to using it again Wednesday as an introduction to Atomic Structure. Hoping it will work on classroom Ipads if we don't finish up in the computer lab. Computer Lab time is a precious commodity! Shelli   10/26/15

Hi Shelli, I'm glad you found this activity useful! The HTML5 version of the simulation will work in iPads :) Amanda   11/2/15

Comment on this activity

How did you use this activity or change it for your class? Answer keys are often not available because the activities are inquiry based and lead to multiple answers. Professionally constructive comments welcome.

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