What This Document Is
This document is a student exploration guide, titled “Element Builder Gizmo,” designed to accompany an interactive simulation. It focuses on foundational concepts in chemistry, specifically the structure of atoms and the periodic table. The Gizmo allows users to manipulate protons, neutrons, and electrons to build different atoms and explore their properties. This preview represents a portion of the accompanying worksheet used within Harvard University’s “Global Infectious Diseases and Social Justice” course (SCILIVSY 26), suggesting an interdisciplinary approach to scientific concepts.
Why This Document Matters
This exploration is valuable for students needing a visual and interactive understanding of atomic structure. It’s particularly useful when first encountering concepts like atomic number, mass number, isotopes, and ions. The document serves as a guided activity, prompting students to make observations and draw conclusions *while* using the Gizmo simulation. The course context suggests this foundational chemistry knowledge is relevant to understanding the biological and social dimensions of infectious diseases. It’s likely used early in the course to establish a shared scientific vocabulary.
Common Limitations or Challenges
This document is *not* a comprehensive chemistry textbook. It doesn’t aim to teach all aspects of atomic theory or the periodic table. It relies entirely on the user actively engaging with the Element Builder Gizmo – the document itself doesn’t provide the simulation. It also doesn’t delve into the complexities of electron configuration or chemical bonding beyond the basic energy level concept introduced. This preview only covers the initial sections of the activity.
What This Document Provides
The full document includes:
* **Vocabulary List:** Definitions of key terms like atom, isotope, and electron dot diagram.
* **Guided Exploration Questions:** Prompts to investigate the relationships between subatomic particles and atomic properties.
* **Activities:** Structured exercises to build atoms, identify isotopes, and determine atomic numbers and mass numbers.
* **Practice Problems:** Questions to reinforce understanding of concepts like ion charge and neutron calculation.
* **Exploration of Electron Arrangement:** An introduction to energy levels and how electrons are organized around the nucleus.
This preview specifically covers the initial “Gizmo Warm-up” and the beginning of “Activity A: Subatomic Particles,” focusing on identifying the location of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and understanding how the number of protons defines an element. It also introduces the concept of isotopes and their representation. This preview does *not* include the sections on electron arrangements or the more advanced practice problems.