Previously we have gone through the basic concepts of element, compound, atom & molecule at
Element VS Compound (click to read, if you havn't). We have seen how fishballs and atoms can be used interchangeably. Now, we continue further with our fishballs story here.
Fishballs are basically a mixture of the flesh of fish, flour, salts and etc.
Atoms have their own ingredients as well. They are made up of protons, electrons & neutrons.
From the diagram above, we can see that protons and neutrons stay close together in the nucleus, while electrons are spinning fast and travel around the nucleus in their own orbitals.
Different fishballs have different flavor, i.e. cheezy, vege, curry, black pepper… Same thing goes with atoms: Different atoms have different amount of protons, electrons and neutrons. For example:
You may ask this question in your mind, “How do we know the exact number of protons, electrons and neutrons for a certain type of element?” In this case, chemists often refer to a chart called PERIODIC TABLE.
In the periodic table, the uranium element is depicted in this way:
Some reference books refer proton number as atomic number & nucleon number as mass number.
Test youself with more examples at
Dynamic Periodic Table
"CHEMISTRY is the study of MATTER!!!" Most of the high school chemistry teachers tell this to their students in the first class. While continue listening to your teacher and flipping through the pages in your textbook, you'll read this:
If you find difficulties in understanding what element, compound, atom & molecule are, do not worry. Many people have trouble understanding the things that they cannot see.
Let's just try to replace atoms with fishballs & see what will happen
Element is composed of one type of fishball only.
...Different fishballs have different taste & size -> Different atoms have different characteristic & size
Compound is composed of more than one type of fishballs that are chemically combined.
Now, ask yourself a few questions. Are they (a) element or compound, (b) atom or molecule?
Answer: Q1.(a) element (b) molecule, Q2. (a) compound (b) molecule, Q3. (a) element (b) atom
Have you got it correct?
Year after year, I was approached by students who could barely pass their chemistry exam. If you are one of them, do not worry! Relax & take a deep deep breath……
The reason that you’re nervous is not because chemistry is difficult. The simple reason is that you’re trying to squeeze all the information into your small little brain at one time.
Just think back the first time when you solved 1+1 = ❏
Wouldn’t it be terrifying to flip the back of the book and find equations like 9+8x12-3 = ❏ ????
In order to score in your SPM chemistry, the very first thing that you need to do is to look at the BIG PICTURE of your SPM syllabus & classify them into groups, before reading chapters by chapters. It is the same concept like when you’re doing a jigsaw puzzle. The first thing that you would do is to take a look at the cover, construct the frame and solve the puzzle pieces by pieces, and, sometimes, refer to the cover again if you are stuck somewhere.
The classification looks something like this. Click on the image to see more details.
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Welcome
Welcome to the brand new year of 2010. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!
This blog is intended to be the resources for students who are interested in learning Chemistry. Studying tips, answering techniques, news, experiments as well as teaching experience will be shared. I would also like to invite you to join this blog in the form of questions and comments.
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