Summary
Uses LEGO bricks as a model for atoms and molecules — showing that atoms combine in specific ways to make new substances, just as bricks combine in specific configurations to make new structures. An accessible model for molecular thinking.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
- How are LEGO bricks a good model for atoms? How is the model imperfect?
- If the atoms in water are rearranged, what new substance could form?
- Why do scientists use models when they cannot observe atoms directly?
- What limits do all models of atoms have?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: atom, molecule, model, combine, substance, rearrange.
Try it: Using colored clay balls, model a water molecule (2 hydrogen + 1 oxygen). Then rearrange those same atoms into hydrogen peroxide (2 hydrogen + 2 oxygen — add an extra oxygen ball). Are the atoms created or destroyed? What changed?