Chapter 2 assignment

If your last name begins with the letters A-L, you may pick one of the following elements from the periodic table:  H, Li, Na, Be, Mg, Ca.  I have just listed the abbreviations but these elements are listed in the first two columns of the periodic table. 

If your last name begins with the letters M-Z, you may pick one of the following elements from the periodic table:  C, N, P, O, S, F, Cl, He, Ne or Ar.  I have just listed the abbreviations but these elements are listed in the last five columns of the periodic table. 

Everyone will have the same assignment after you pick your element.

First, you must figure out what the electron configuration for an atom of your element would be.  What I mean is write down how many electrons this atom has in each of its electron shells. To do this, you must find determine what the atomic number is.  On the periodic table, this is the smaller number listed next to the element.  The atomic number tells you the number of protons and the number of electrons.  Remember, you can have a maximum of 2 electrons in the first shell, 8 electrons in the second shell and 8 electrons in the 3^rd shell.  

You will need to do this part of the assignment at home.

I have written below, the binding capacity for each atom.  This table gives you the number of electrons that an atom must get into to have a complete outer shell of 8 electrons:

ELEMENT                                                                  BINDING CAPACITY

HYDROGEN                                                                          1

CARBON                                                                                4

NITROGEN                                                                            3

OXYGEN                                                                                2

PHOSPHOROUS                                                                   5

When you get to class, Dr. Norflus will supervise and students will need to find another student who you can form a bond with.  You might form an ionic or a covalent bond.  You might have to form a double or a triple bond.  Or, you might not be able to form any bonds.  If that is the case, then write a separate note on your paper explaining why you cannot form any bonds. 

At the end of the exercise, you will need to turn in a piece of paper that has your atom and its electron configuration and the paper of another student who you formed a bond with.  You need to explain what type of bond you formed.

You must be in class to get credit for this assignment.