The Great River & The Elements
This famous Montessori story describes how the elements received their "laws" and "danced" to create the universe.
What is the Cosmic Tale (or The Great River / God Who Has No Hands)
This negatively charged subatomic particle orbits the nucleus in specific energy levels.
Electrons
The horizontal rows on the periodic table are called this.
periods
Found in Group 18, these gases are famous for being extremely unreactive because their outer electron shells are completely full.
noble gases
This type of chemical bond is formed when atoms share pairs of electrons.
covalent bond
These are the electrons located in the outermost energy level of an atom, responsible for chemical bonding.
valence electrons
This chart, often introduced with a story about Dmitry Mendeleev, organizes all the elements by their "laws" and characteristics.
What is the Periodic Table of the Elements
These two subatomic particles are found inside the nucleus and make up almost all of an atom's mass.
Protons and Neutrons
Elements in the same vertical column, also known as a group, share similar these.
chemical properties (or valence electron counts)
Group 1 elements, like sodium and potassium, are known as these metals and are highly reactive with water.
alkali metals
This type of bond forms when one atom completely gives up electrons to another, creating a bond based on electrical attraction.
ionic bond
Oxygen is in Group 16; therefore, it has this many valence electrons.
6
This is the pure substance made of only one kind of atom, which cannot be broken down into simpler substances by ordinary chemical means.
What is an element?
Subtracting the atomic number from the mass number gives you the total count of this neutral particle.
Neutrons
This zig-zag stair-step line on the right side of the periodic table separates these two major classes of elements.
metals and non-metals
Group 17 elements, known as this family, love to react with alkali metals to form salts.
halogens
This rule states that atoms tend to gain, lose, or share electrons until they have a total of eight in their outer shell.
octet rule
This term describes an atom's ability to attract shared electrons toward itself in a chemical bond.
electronegativity
"Story of the Elements," these substances are described as the ones that refuse to mix or bond with any others, preferring to stay alone.
What are the Noble Gases?
C: Atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons.
Isotopes
Elements touching the staircase line that share properties of both metals and nonmetals are called this.
metalloids (or semi-metals)
The large block of metallic elements in the middle of the periodic table (Groups 3–12) goes by this name.
transition metals
A charged atom or molecule that has gained or lost electrons is known by this general term.
What is an ion?
This is the amount of energy required to remove an electron from an atom; it increases as you move left-to-right across a period.
ionization energy
Named after the Latin word for "shining dawn" (aurum), this element's symbol on the periodic table is Au.
What is Gold?
The identity of an element is entirely determined by this specific number.
Atomic number or number of protons
As you move from top to bottom down a group, this physical property of the atom increases because new energy levels are added.
atomic radius (or atomic size)
Magnesium and calcium belong to Group 2, which is known by this specific family name.
alkaline earth metals
This specific term describes a covalent bond where electrons are shared unequally, like the bonds in a water molecule.
covalent bond
Excluding the noble gases, this element in the upper right corner of the periodic table is the most electronegative.
What is fluorine?
On the Periodic Table, elements in the same vertical column belong to the same "family" because they share these.
What are similar chemical properties (or valence electron counts)?
This scientist’s famous gold foil experiment proved that atoms are mostly empty space with a dense, positively charged nucleus.
Ernest Rutherford
This is the only metal on the periodic table that exists as a liquid at standard room temperature.
mercury
These two rows detached at the bottom of the table are collectively known as the inner transition metals, or by these two specific row names.
lanthanides and actinides
A tightly bound group of atoms that behaves as a single unit and carries a net charge, such as sulfate (SO42−) or ammonium (NH4+).
polyatomic ion
Moving left-to-right across a period, atomic radius actually decreases due to an increase in this pull from the nucleus.
effective nuclear charge (or proton/positive pull)
Final Jeopardy (Medium Difficulty)
Category: Predictive Science
Clue: When Dmitri Mendeleev published his first periodic table, he left intentional blank spaces in the grid for this specific reason.
Answer: What is to leave room for elements that had not been discovered yet? (Accept: He predicted the existence of undiscovered elements).