Chemistry

27th September 2002, 1:00am

Share

Chemistry

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/chemistry-6
This is a good article to enrich the standard “Earth in Space” materials in KS3 or KS4 science. Fire the imagination as the basic facts of planets (masses, radii, distance from the sun, gas composition etc) are covered. Why not get a poster, a story a presentation, a video or Powerpoint from the youngsters? Writing as Martians maybe?

Help pupils to see how probes might work by bringing back the bunsen! Dim the room and burn a few salts. (chlorides of sodium [orange], potassium[lilac] barium [green] etc) Pupils view them through hand-held spectroscopes, prisms or diffraction gratings. They see a “fingerprint” spectrum characteristic of the substance. Being a chemical detectives might help find the fingerprints of human organic life somewhere out there.

John Dexter

Want to keep reading for free?

Register with Tes and you can read two free articles every month plus you'll have access to our range of award-winning newsletters.

Keep reading for just £1 per month

You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get:

  • Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content
  • Exclusive subscriber-only stories
  • Award-winning email newsletters
Recent
Most read
Most shared