F Activity 1: It’s in the Cards

Deductive Reasoning & The PT

Forensic scientists and detectives, like those you saw
on Cold Case Files., must be able to organize, analyze,
and determine connections between a hodgepodge of
facts, physical evidence, personal statements, and prior
experiences. As a crime solver like those presented on
Cold Case Files, you not only have to be able to work
with this jumble of evidence, but you have to work
backwards and forwards in order to come to a logical
conclusion about a case. In this exercise, though, we’ll
work on just the experience of the detectives. You’ll
need to use facts, physical evidence, and your prior
experiences in this course to solve a puzzle of sorts.
With that in mind, today you’ll work with a chemistry
puzzle. You’ll use some of that periodic knowledge and
your deductive skills to better piece together all of the
aspects of periodic law.
Fig 1.1

P
P R E P A R I N G

WHAT DO YOU THINK? • LE ARNING OBJECTIVES

It is time to rack your brain a bit. You need to remember and use what you learned in the previous unit to
solve this puzzle. This is the first of many times that you’ll use what you’ve already learned, so if you are
still struggling with the last unit’s material, you need to get in for some help! For this activity, you’ll just
need selective memory. For each of the terms below, state in your own words what it is, and do your
best to draw a picture (at the nano scale) to illustrate each individual concept.

1. Electronegativity 4. Density
2. Atomic radius 5. Melting point (physical science)
3. Ionization energy 6. Oxides

As always, include an objective or essential question for this laboratory activity and share that objective
with a teammate or laboratory partner.

Based on Flinn Chem Topics

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E
E X P E R I M E N T I N G

CRE ATING ORDER • PREDICTIONS

Ionization Atomic
Being Mendeleev… Energy Radius

You have a deck of cards in front of you. Each card, corresponding Specific Gravity Formula of its
to an individual element, has a set of data on it as represented in oxide XbOc
Figure 1.2. Your task is twofold: Formula of its
chloride XCla Melting Point
1. Create order by looking for trends, similarities, and
difference in each of the properties.
Density* Formula of its
2. Do some detective work and predict the properties of the hydride XHd
“Missing Element.” Just as Mendeleev didn’t have a full set
of elements to work with in his game of chemical solitaire Electronegativity
(the creation of the first periodic table), you too aren’t
working with a full deck (phew, I crack myself up). There *Density values are in units of g/cm3 for solids
should be a space in your order for the “Missing Element” and liquids, g/L for gases Fig 1.2
card.
3. When you are finished, call your instructor over to check your order. At that time you will receive
a key with one possible ordering of the elements based on the properties you have here.
You may NOT use any additional references to do this – so a periodic table, your text, other texts, the
Internet, the CRC, and other possible references are out! It is just you, your group, and your elemental
evidence to get this done. In your notebook, draw your final organizational chart representing a few of the
properties (so you could recreate these if necessary).

A
A N A L Y Z I N G

RE ADING • QUESTIONS

Reading: It’s in the Cards

,
Read Active Chemistry “Chem Talk” on 594 and 596 on deductive reasoning and the elements.

Questions: It’s in the Cards

1. Mendeleev’s periodic law can be stated: “The physical and chemical properties of elements are
periodic functions of their atomic masses.” Based on your layout of cards, define “periodic
functions.”

2. The current model of the periodic table is arranged by atomic number. Why didn’t Mendeleev
arrange the periodic table by atomic number?

3. Determine the atomic number and identity of each element. It might help to know that “specific
gravity” is actually atomic mass! You do not need to record anything for this step in your
laboratory notebook (just do it on the handout).
4. Using a program of your choice (or graph paper), create three graphs, graphing the ionization
energy, atomic mass, or electronegativity on the y-axis and atomic number on the x-axis. After
looking at the graphs, which property is not a periodic function? Explain.

Based on Flinn Chem Topics

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 5. There are certain trends which occur either across periods or down groups (families). For the
three properties in Figure 1.3, write if the trend is to increase or decrease as you go across a
period or down a group.

Fig 1.3

6. Be sure you can identify and label the following on the answer key passed out in class – alkali
metals, noble gases, f-block elements, alkali earth metals, halogens, transition metals,
metalloids. You do not need to write anything for this in your laboratory notebook, but you
should use this vocabulary on a regular basis.
7. What is the missing element? Predict its properties based on its group & the trends.

C R I T I C A L L Y T H I N K I N G

CT ME AN? • KNOW? • BELIEVE? • CARE?

What does the activity mean?

Chemistry explains the macroscopic phenomenon (what you observe) with and explanation of what
happens at the nanoscopic level (atoms and molecules) using symbolic structures as a way to
communicate. Explain the meaning of this activity by completing the MNS table.

MACRO NANO SYMBOLIC

How did you see periodic law? What is periodic law a function Symbolically we represent all
of at the nanoscale? of these trends & periodic law
with the periodic table! It is the
big symbol for this activity.

How do I know?
How do you know which properties are periodic trends and which are not?

Why do I believe?
This is your first time to cite references from a past unit. Name two activities this lab specifically
connects to from the Periodic Table unit? What is that connection?

Why do I care?
Why do you think knowing about the properties of the elements is crucial to a forensic scientist?

Based on Flinn Chem Topics

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