Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the S unit called ‘Circuits’. This D unit provided enough material for eight double periods during a Further Science course and built on the content of the S units for Single Science. The teachers’ guide included...

This booklet contains a range of suggested teaching activities and contexts for atomic structure and equations at A level. Curriculum links include atomic structure, relative masses, electron structure, formulae and equations, periodicity, isotopes, electron structure, mass spectrometry, electron configuration,...

This learning episode, from the Institute of Physics, looks at Melde's experiment. It uses the analogy of a standing wave in a stretched elastic cord before going on to introduce the idea of standing waves within an atom.

The activities include:
* Melde’s experiment
* electron waves in atoms...

In this activity developed by the Institute of Physics, students use simple diffraction gratings to observe the spectra from different sources, and deduce how scientists can work out which chemicals are present in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. When an exoplanet passes in front of its star, some of the starlight is...

In this activity students discover how a Tanzanian initiative reduced iodine deficiency diseases, and look at lessons the UK can learn from the example of this African nation. According to recent reports, up to 70% of British young people do not take in enough iodine. Iodine deficiency causes goiter and brain...

This article investigates the history of models of the atom and discovers how, a century ago, scientists were devising models of the atom in an attempt to explain the limited evidence they had about the fundamental structure of matter.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2015, Volume 25,...

The Nuffield Advanced Chemistry basic course based its treatment of chemistry on three aids to understanding that were seen as being fundamental. These were:
*the use of the Periodic Table to provide unifying patterns for the diverse properties of elements and...

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Recognise that atoms are not visible under any type of microscope and that scientists have never ‘seen’ the structure of an atom.
• Distinguish the nucleus of an atom from the...

A Year Ten module from the Salters’ double award science course. The story-line for this unit is the whole world market for manufactured chemicals and the need to transport them safely to where they are needed. This shows the importance of systems which convey concise,...

A Catalyst article describing how a medical drug is made into a form which works well in the body. Medicines rarely contain just one pure chemical substance. The vast majority are made of a complex mixture that contains an active ingredient (the compound that has the desired effect in the body) and compounds called...

These downloadable animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop the idea of chemical change as a change of substance.

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Describe the process of electrolysis in terms of chemical reactions occurring at the electrodes.
• Identify the cathode (or anode) in a diagram of the electrolysis of a solution of...

In this activity students play a game to help them to understand how nitrogen gets recycled throughout the environment. They will become nitrogen atoms and move from compound to compound in different areas of the ecosystem. They then apply what they have learnt to...

This is one of the six Background Books published for Stage I of the Nuffield Chemistry Sample Scheme. The books were highly illustrated and designed to be attractive. This book describes applications of chemistry.

There are two parts to this book:
*Part 1: Earth, air and water
A review of...

Dr. Lewis Dartnell takes a sample from the Atacama desert, to the Open University, to be analysed by a Raman spectrometer.  The spectrometer shows the organic compounds that Lewis found on the quartz, as well as the composition of the quartz itself.

This video is part of a series of ten which look at the one...