Atomic Structure

Atomic Structure is the foundation to be able to understand more complex layers of chemistry. Understanding how atoms are designed helps in understanding compounds and how chemical will interact. Not only on within the context of chemistry, but in biological process as well. Atomic Structure is also a fun part of chemistry currriculum. Creating atoms allows young people to envision the unseen and create a great visual for that.

Creating these atomic structures are great for a classroom lesson and also just for a creative afternoon activity. You can design atoms of many sizes and create them to be accurate models to explain other important layers of the atoms that is involved when creating compounds. The freedom to design the atom with whatever materials that student see’s best for their understanding also makes the project fun and unqiues. Really allows creativity and mastery of the information to be displayed.

Materials

• Pipe Cleaners
• Pom Poms
• Beads
• Hot Glue / Krazy Glue
• Hot Glue Gun
• Construction Paper
• Colored Pencils
• Scissors

Instructions

Students should have a background in atomic structure and how to count particles to do the activity. Based on the atom they are making

• Count the particles representing the protons and neutrons and place them onto the pipe cleaner
• Twist the pipe cleaner so that the beads mold into a small circle so that it resembles an atom. Twist the remaining pipe cleaner creating a lollipop like structure
• Put the electrons of your atom of choice onto a pipe cleaner and attach it to the pipe cleaner representing the electron shells
• Connect the electron shells to the center pipe that contains the particles for the nucleus

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