How do the electron arrangements of atoms determine the chemical and physical properties of elements and compounds?

The electron arrangements of atoms determine how atoms bond with one another. Due to the Octet rule, atoms want to have a full valence shell. They can achieve this through bonding with other atoms.

A Core Competency I intended to work on throughout the duration of this project is the Critical and Reflective thinking competency. It incorporates questioning, observing, and reflecting on experiences to draw conclusions.

🧠 Project Start Mind-Map

As always, we created a mind map at the beginning of the project, detailing our questions and current knowledge. At the end of this project, I added some answers to my previous questions. This was our first milestone.

🧪 Investigation 2-A

Afterwards, we moved onto a stepping stone, otherwise known as Investigation 2-A. This was essentially an investigation in which we experimented with hydrochloric acid and zinc. However, before we could actually partake in the experiment, we had to create an animation of the procedure with proper safety precautions. Here’s a photo of my animation:

Unfortunately, I was not actually present for the experiment itself. Because of such, I was unable to create the lab experiment for it.

💡Researching

Then, we spent a lot of time in class and at home completing various different workbook pages. Personally, I am more of a visual learner, so I faced difficulty deriving a solid understanding from this process. Nonetheless, below is an excerpt from the work I completed.

Once we had completed a singular milestone and various stepping stones, we finally moved on to milestone 4. For this task, we created a storyboard in order to plan for our final animation. I had originally intended to make my animation about a substitute teacher who filled in at a witch academy, while they were learning about science. However, I actually decided to change that plan for the final animation.

🎨 Ionic & Covalent Bonds Animation

Instead, my actual animation, “Let’s play Atom Adventures”, is a video displayed as a run-through of a video game. Throughout the video, ionic and covalent bonds are explained. This is where a lot of the curricular competencies come together.

Honestly, I believe I could have worked better on my time management when it came to the animation. I spent a lot of the time we had working on other assignments, or thinking about how much I dreaded having to create the animation. As an artist, I know that animation is not easy and requires a painfully large amount of effort; especially if one is creating it frame by frame. Regardless, I am glad to have managed in the end.

✅ Curricular Competencies

• Communicating: Formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon

I utilized Bohr models to assist in my understanding of ionic and covalent bonding throughout the project. This includes my storyboard, my animation, and some of the workbook pages we completed. In my animation, I described the process of bonding between NaCl, and HCl.

• Processing and Analyzing: Construct, analyze and interpret models and/or diagrams

I somewhat struggled with this when it came to the workbook pages. As aforementioned, I am more of a visual learner, and I have trouble understanding scientific concepts without clear visuals. However, when it came to the Build An Atom Worksheet, I was able to build some knowledge regarding atoms to help aid me in the completion of my animation. I also worked on some independent research on ionic and covalent bonds in order to help solidify my understanding.

• Questioning and Predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

As previously mentioned, I completed research independently when I struggled with my understanding. I feel that I demonstrated this competency through that. Additionally, this research also went into my animation on ionic and covalent bonds.

✨ Conclusion

A solid understanding of atomic bonding is foundational to understanding the world around us. Although I am not the most science orientated individual, it was surreal to learn about the processes that happen around us on a smaller scale. Thank you for reading!