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Matter Lab 6-8 / Week 06 / Bench Day
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Week 06 · Atoms Team Up: Molecules

Bench Day

Bench Day: Molecule museum
// The recipe for a substance
⏱ about 20 min

Bench Day: Molecule Museum

Saturday morning, the Bench becomes a museum. Rocket sets out five paper molecules, each with a card beneath it.

"Admission is one question," he says. "Guess the formula from the model."

Raven unrolls a long sheet of grid paper covered in a checkerboard. "And this exhibit never ends."

A family member points at the three-circle model with the black center. "Carbon dioxide?" Rocket nods and bows.

Nova hovers over the salt sheet, her light tracing the pattern. "What do you notice about the edges?" she asks.

"There are no real edges," Raven says. "We just ran out of paper."

Rocket adds a sixth card to the table. It reads: Everything is made of something.

  1. All matter is made from atoms. An atom is the smallest particle of an element that still has its properties.
  2. Atoms combine to form molecules, from two atoms to thousands. Water is two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, H2O.
  3. A molecular formula is the recipe. The small number after a symbol tells how many atoms, and no number means one.
  4. The same atoms in a different count make a different substance: H2O and H2O2, or O2 and O3.
  5. Table salt is an extended structure of sodium and chlorine that repeats, not a molecule. Atomic number counts protons.
◇ FAMILY MOLECULE MUSEUM
Set out the models from Wednesday with a card under each. Hide the formulas on the backs of the cards.
Each family member tours the museum and guesses the formula for every model. Turn the cards over to check.
Together, build one new molecule from the formula cards: ozone, O3, or hydrogen peroxide, H2O2.
Finish by adding a row to the salt checkerboard. Talk about why a crystal has no single molecule.
For a grown-up
The beans and paper circles are models, not food. Keep them away from younger children and pets, and put them away afterward.
A grown-up handles the scissors if new circles are cut.
The element data this week come from the National Institutes of Health chemistry database and from NASA. The definitions come from a chemistry text hosted by the University of California, Davis.
Safety first
Nothing goes in your mouth. The models are never eaten.
A grown-up does any cutting.
Pick up every small piece when the museum closes.
MUSEUM QUIZ
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A model has two small circles touching one large circle. Which formula fits?
A model has three identical circles in a row. Which formula fits?
Bench Day checkTrue or false?
A molecule model shows the kinds and numbers of atoms.?
The salt checkerboard could keep going if you had more paper.?
Hydrogen peroxide and water are the same substance.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe museum works because every formula is one exact recipe.
Draw your museum table from above. Show each model with its formula card.
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