So.... yes. The vocabulary for this unit can be VERY confusing :) Last week in class, we came up with a way to relate the concepts back to the kids in the form of an analogy. Here it goes!
Let's say we have an Algonkian basketball league player. This player wears a yellow jersey because he is a member of the team Lightning Bolts. Now, there is another player, and she is wearing a green jersey. She wears a black jersey because she is a member of the team Random Guys. Each player that is a "Random Guys" has a black shirt, and each player that is a "Lightning Bolt" has a yellow shirt. There are five Lightning Bolt players that stick together and play as a team. There are five Random Guys players that stick together and play as a team. Now, if you were to walk into the gym during a game, you would be able to easily tell each team's players apart from other teams' players because they all have a distinct color shirt. There are other teams, such as the green shirted "Tropical Mangoes." One day, the yellow Lightning Bolts have a player out sick. They need someone to fill in on their team, so a green-shirted Tropical Mango offers to play. They combine to make a team, and even though there are two different colored jerseys/two team types playing on the same team, they play. Okay... so what does this have to do with our vocabulary? Look below for an explanation. Let's say we have an Algonkian basketball league player. The Algonkian basketball league player is an atom. All players represent atoms in this case because an atom is a single unit of matter. This player wears a yellow jersey because he is a member of the team Lightning Bolts. Just like we can tell the type of players apart by their jersey color, we can tell an atom apart from others by how many protons it has in its nucleus. The jersey color yellow says it is a specific type of player, a Lightning Bolt; the number of protons in the nucleus tell us that the atom is a specific type of element. For example, a Hydrogen atom has 1 proton in its nucleus. Hydrogen is an element; a yellow shirt is a specific kind of player. We know if we see an atom with 1 proton in the nucleus it is a Hydrogen element atom, just like we know that a yellow shirted player is a Lightning Bolt. Now, there is another player, and she is wearing a black jersey. She wears a black jersey because she is a member of the team Random Guys. This player also represents an atom, but a different type of element (because she has a black shirt, not yellow). This atom, let's say, has 2 protons in its nucleus and therefore is an atom of the element Helium. We can tell it apart from Hydrogen (1 proton) because it has 2 protons. We know that if we see an atom with 2 protons in its nucleus it is an atom of the element Helium, just like we know that if we see a black-shirted player it is a player from the team Random Guy. Each player that is a "Random Guys" has a black shirt, and each player that is a "Lightning Bolt" has a yellow shirt. Each Helium atom has 2 protons in its nucleus, each Hydrogen atom has 1 proton in its nucleus. There are five Lightning Bolt players that stick together and play as a team. There are five hydrogen atoms that bond together to make a molecule. A molecule is 2 or more atoms bonded together. There are five Random Guys players that stick together and play as a team. There are five helium atoms bonded together to make a molecule. Now, if you were to walk into the gym during a game, you would be able to easily tell each team's players apart from other teams' players because they all have a distinct color shirt. We can tell each atom apart by the number of protons in its nucleus. There are other teams, such as the green shirted "Tropical Mangoes." There are other elements with more protons in their nuclei. Let's say that the green shirted Tropical Mangoes are like the element Carbon, which has 6 protons in its nucleus. One day, the yellow Lightning Bolts have a player out sick. They need someone to fill in on their team, so a green-shirted Tropical Mango offers to play. They combine to make a team, and even though there are two different colored jerseys/two team types playing on the same team, they play. When two or more players unite, they form a team. When two or more atoms combine, they form a molecule. Molecules can have all atom from the same element (team type) or can be a special kind of molecule with two or more elements bonded together (like our two types of players bonding together and making a team). This is called a COMPOUND. When you have a molecule with two or more types of elements' atoms bonded together, it is a compound. So, a compound is a specific kind of molecule. I know this is a lot to take in, but the more we talk about it, the more sense it will make :) So, to break down our analogy: player=atom There are lots of different types of players, like there are lots of different types of atoms. Jersey color=element The jersey color tells us what team a player is on; the protons tell us what kind of element an atom is. Team of two or more players=molecule of two or more atoms Team with two or more different colored jerseys= molecule (because it has 2 or more atoms bonded together) AND compound (because there is more than one type of element's atoms in the molecule)
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