Element poster

Investigation into an Element

Task: Your task has 2 parts.

Part 1: To write a one page report (around 400 words) on an element of the Periodic Table. You may choose whichever one you like but we know more about some than others so choose carefully. Your report should include :

·   Physical properties of the element e.g. colour

·   Chemical properties of the element e.g. is it radioactive

·   Occurrence e.g. is it common or rare, is it found in a pure or  compound form

·   If it occurs as a compound ,how is it purified

·   What are its uses including will we run out of useable forms and what will we replace it with

Part 2: To create an A3 poster about your element that has impact (draws people to it) and imparts 3 facts about your element.

You should take care of grammar, punctuation and your presentation. Be sure to make it look visually appealing (font size, colour, headings, pictures, boarders, etc.).

There is a list of helpful questions and other hints below the example poster.

Example Poster

Here is an example of a high quality poster. It is on Fungi, rather than an element (so I don't have students copying what I have done)

These notes may help you:

Physical properties of the element

Physical properties can be observed or measured without changing the composition of matter. Physical properties are used to observe and describe matter. Physical properties include: appearance, texture, colour, odour, melting point, boiling point, density, solubility, etc.

Chemical properties of the element

A chemical property is a characteristic or behaviour of a substance that may be observed when it undergoes a chemical change or reaction. Chemical properties include: reactivity, flammability, heat of combustion, chemical stability under specific conditions, acidity or basicity, radioactivity.

Occurrence

Is it common or rare? Is it found in a pure or compound form? A compound comprises two of more different elements (a mixture), e.g. H2O (hydrogen and oxygen)

If it occurs as a compound, how is it purified?

This may occur through sublimation, distillation, filtration, crystallisation or extraction.