Name:______Period:______

Home Work Pre-Ap: Element, Compound, or Mixture?

Paperclip Lab

Now that we have an idea of what the differences are between an element, a compound, and a mixture, we are going to take a closer look in a little bit different way. We are going to construct models of elements, compounds, and mixtures. To do this, we are going to use paperclips to model atoms. Remember that atoms are the smallest particles of a single element. Each color of paperclip represents a different kind of atom.

Use this table as a key:

Paperclip
Color / Paperclip
Symbol / Element
Name / Chemical
Symbol
Silver / S / Hydrogen / H
Yellow / Y / Oxygen / O
Black / B / Sodium / Na
Green / G / Chlorine / Cl
Red / R / Carbon / C
Pink / P / Helium / He

For example, one red and one yellow could be joined to form a molecule. Using clip symbols (based on the color chart above) this molecule would be represented as RY. This would be a paperclip model for the molecule containing one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, called carbon monoxide, and written in chemical symbols as CO.

Sometimes atoms come into contact with one another, but don’t link-up (bond). For example, if carbon and oxygen didn’t bond, we would write “R and Y” to represent the mixture instead of “RY.” An actual example of two atoms not bonding would be two helium atoms put together. We would write 2P to mean we had two pink paperclips that were not linked. Using chemical symbols, we write 2He.

Use the paperclips to make the substances on the reverse side.

Clip Symbol / Draw Paperclip model(s) in this box. / Explanation / Chemical Symbols

2P

/ This is an element because…

2S

/ This is an element because…
S2Y / This is a compound because…
S2Y and

WG

/ This is a mixture because…
Clip Symbol / Draw paperclip model(s) in this box. / Fill in the blank and explain. / Chemical Symbols
Y2 / This is a(n) ______because…
S2Y2 / This is a(n) ______because…
RY2 and S2Y / This is a(n) ______because…