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ACTIVITY in Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Covalent Bonding, Ionic Bonding, Electronegativity, Metallic Bonding. Last updated March 25, 2020.
Summary
In this activity, students create a video of collisions that represent chemical reactions.
Grade Level
High school
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to
- distinguish between covalent, ionic, and metallic bonding.
- rank elements in order of least to greatest electronegativity.
- rank elements in order of least to greatest atomic radius.
Chemistry Topics
This lesson supports students’ understanding of
- Covalent bonding
- Ionic bonding
- Metallic bonding
- Electronegativity
Time
Teacher Preparation: 15 minutes
Lesson: 60 minutes
Materials
For each group:
- Toy cars in four different sizes
- Camera
- Video camera or device with video capabilities
- Sticky notes
Safety
There are no special safety considerations for this activity.
Teacher Notes
- Groups of three work well for this assignment.
- Encourage students to designate students to do the filming, directing, and colliding. Time management can sometimes be an issue!
- Each group should receive one car of each size, totaling four cars per group.
For the Student
Lesson
Task #1
Stage car wrecks that represent two atoms bonding. Your team will work together to create a film of the collisions. It is up to you how you plan to represent each collision. Be creative! You will have access to several different sized cars, all of which represent atoms with different electronegativities. Use sticky notes to label the cars as different elements from the periodic table. Your instructor will check these for accuracy. The table below indicates the electronegativity range of each car size:
| Car size | Electronegativity range |
|---|---|
| Big | 3.1 – 4.0 |
| Medium | 2.1 – 3.0 |
| Small | 1.1 – 2.0 |
| Shrimp | 0.1 – 1.0 |
Your film should represent each of the following types of reactions:
- Ionic bonding
- Polar covalent bonding
- Non-polar covalent bonding
- Metallic bonding
- Hydrogen bonding
Task #2
Take a photo of your cars set up in order of least to greatest atomic radius. (The electronegativity table above still applies!) The photo needs to include a label with your team names.
Task #3
Take a photo of your cars set up in order of least to greatest ionization energy. The photo needs to include a label with your team names.
At the end of class, your team will submit your video and two photos.