Welcome to College Prep Chemistry!
College Prep Chemistry studies introductory chemistry concepts as they apply to the real-world.
Here is our curriculum:
1: Drug Project
Students begin their chemistry journey researching chemical facts about a drug of their choice. Students will use their applied digital skills to share their research by creating a poster in Google Slides. Students will learn what their research data means and how to interpret the data.
VOCABULARY: density, melting point, boiling point, molar mass, state of matter, room temperature
2: Physical & Chemical Properties
Students will learn that the chemical facts they researched in week 1 are examples of physical and/or chemical properties. Chemists use physical and chemical properties to distinguish matter. Students will be asked to help investigators (in a simulated crime) identify illegal drugs found in student lockers using physical and chemical properties.
VOCABULARY: physical property, chemical property, solubility, luster
3: Density
Students will explore one physical property in greater detail: density. Students will learn how to calculate it and how to determine if an object will float or sink when in water.
VOCABULARY: density, mass, volume
4: Classification of Matter
Matter can be classified as an element, compound, or mixture. Students will explore what these types of matter look like at the particle level using models. Students will learn how The Periodic Table of the Elements can provide information about the name and symbol of the elements. Students will also learn how to interpret chemical formulas of compounds and mixtures. Students will be presented with a challenge: how to separate a mixture into its components.
VOCABULARY: element, compound, atom, molecule, diatomic element, homogeneous mixture, heterogeneous mixture, percent yield, chemical formula, element symbol
5: The Periodic Table
The Periodic Table of the Elements is the most important tool to a chemist. Students will learn how to classify the elements as metals, nonmetals, or metalloids; use the Table as a coordinate system of periods and groups; and identify the state of matter at room temperature for each element on the Periodic Table.
VOCABULARY: metals, nonmetals, metalloids, solid, liquid, gas, plasma, period, group
6: Isotopes
Students will learn how atoms of an element are different from each other.
VOCABULARY: proton, neutron, electron, nucleus, electron cloud, isotope, atomic number, mass number, ion, cation, anion
7: Electron Configuration
Students will learn how electrons in the electron cloud are arranged and how it explains the organization of the Periodic Table.
VOCABULARY: principle energy level, sublevel, orbital, electron configuration, dot notation, exponential notation, orbital notation, s-block, p-block, valence electrons, core electrons
8: Chemical Bonding
Students will learn how the number of electrons in the electron cloud can predict how many and what type of bonds will form between atoms of elements.
VOCABULARY: atomic radius, ionization energy, ionic bond, covalent bond, metallic bond
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These resources are videos from YouTube that do a great job of teaching various chemistry concepts.