Photo credit: NASA Headquarters - Greatest Images of NASA (NASA-HQ-GRIN)
The Ring Nebula as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula is around one light year in diameter and is 2,000 light years from Earth. The blue areas of the nebula show the presence of superheated helium gas clouds, and the red and green areas show ionized oxygen and nitrogen.
Photo credit: Dr John Mileham
Teacher notes
This six-stage animation shows how the order among the elements was discovered, and the modern periodic table was developed.
Teacher notes
This five-stage sequence shows how the elements are arranged into the periodic table.
Pupils could have a go at arranging the elements themselves before the whole sequence is shown. They could do this by writing out the elements in a line as in the first stage and then cutting them up and arranging them how they think appropriate, before being shown the rest of the sequence.
Appropriate prompts, if carrying out this exercise, would be:
Where are elements with similar properties found?
Where are the unreactive gases found?
Where are the reactive gases found?
Where are the reactive metals found?
Think about how the elements might be best arranged, with these similar elements in mind.
Teacher notes
Lanthanides and actinides do not have the same pattern of repeated properties like the other elements, so they are usually written separately.
It also keeps the periodic table to a sensible width, which fits easily on wall charts and in books.
Teacher notes
This quiz could be used as a plenary or revision exercise to check students’ understanding of the reactivity of the metals in the periodic table. Coloured traffic light cards could be used with this activity to increase class participation.
Teacher notes
This quiz could be used as a plenary or revision exercise to check students’ understanding of the reactivity of non-metals and semi-metals in the periodic table. Coloured traffic light cards could be used with this activity to increase class participation.
Teacher notes
This completing sentences activity could be used as a plenary or revision exercise on the periodic table and electron structure. Students could be asked to write down the missing words in their books and the activity could be concluded by the completion on the IWB.
Teacher notes
This quiz could be used as a plenary or revision exercise to check students’ understanding of the electron configuration in the periodic table. Coloured traffic light cards could be used with this activity to increase class participation.