Discussion Questions: Periodic Table of the Elements
- What kinds of information about the atomic structure of an element can you learn from the periodic table?
- What can you tell about the elements from the way they are ordered in the table?
- How can the periodic table help you predict how atoms of different elements might combine?
- Describe one type of chemical bond - metallic, ionic, or covalent.
- Air is approximately 21 percent oxygen gas (O2) and 78 percent nitrogen gas (N2). Can you tell from the information in the periodic table why helium balloons float in air?
- Which would you predict would be the heaviest and the lightest materials that would be good conductors of electricity?
- If carbon monoxide leaked into your house, would you predict that it would float to the top of the room or stay near the floor? What about carbon dioxide?
