8ADU Science.  What's Hot in the Science Lab World for Year 8's?

Year 8 Scientists have been exploring the first 20 elements in the Periodic Table of Elements over the past few weeks.   We explored atomic structure,  including what atoms are, how to draw them, and what makes up an atom.  We know about subatomic particles; electrons, neutrons, and protons.    

We're getting very good at recognising the Atomic Number of elements,  and what this means for determining numbers of protons and electrons. We also explored the Atomic Mass and how to work out the number of neutrons in the atom.

8ADU and 8MRU have been looking at features of metals and non-metals.   As part of this we looked at how a metal reacts with an acid. We discovered that a metal reacts with acid to produce Hydrogen gas. The test for Hydrogen gas is the pop test.  We learnt that 

Metal + Acid = Salt and Hydrogen.  

Some of us thought an easy way to remember this would be the acronym MASH.

Lately we've been looking at the difference between an element, a compound, and a mixture.  

Next up, we'll be researching elements in the Human Body.