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3D-Printed Atoms: Molecules and Crystals for a Museum Case

Grade 7 physical science: use a 3D printing club's atom models of gases, diamond, graphite, copper and quartz to compare molecules with extended structures.

Grade 7ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned toMS-PS1-1

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
10 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 7
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use ball-and-stick models to count the atoms in simple molecules.
Students use models to explain how extended structures such as quartz and copper repeat.
Students explain how the number and arrangement of atoms make substances different.

How to use

If you have a molecule kit, build one model from Table 1 together first. Then students read the passage, use the table and finish with the written argument.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

MS-PS1-1

Model the atoms in simple molecules and in extended structures such as crystals.

Preview

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3D-Printed Atoms: Molecules and Crystals for a Museum Case

Use printed models to compare small molecules with repeating structures.

Molecule models

Read the passage and study Table 1. Then answer the questions.

Printing Atoms

1The town science museum asked the 3D printing club at Harmon Junior High to print models for a new display case called "What Are Things Made Of?" Club members Arjun Mehta and Sofia Petrov, with their advisor, Ms. Renée Daniels, printed plastic balls to stand for atoms and short rods to stand for the bonds that join them. They chose one color for each kind of atom: black for carbon (C), white for hydrogen (H), red for oxygen (O), blue for nitrogen (N), gray for silicon (Si) and orange for copper (Cu).

2Some substances are made of molecules, small separate groups of atoms joined together. A chemical formula lists the atoms in one molecule; a small number after a symbol tells how many of that atom there are. The club printed models of five molecules for the case: nitrogen gas (N₂), which makes up most of the air; ammonia (NH₃), found in some cleaners; hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), used to clean small cuts; ozone (O₃); and propane (C₃H₈), the fuel in many camp stove tanks. The case already held a water model (H₂O) from last year's display.

3Oxygen gas (O₂), the gas we breathe, has no color or smell. Ozone is a pale blue gas with a sharp smell. Near the ground it can irritate people's lungs, but a thin layer of it high in the atmosphere absorbs some of the Sun's harmful ultraviolet light.

4Other substances form extended structures, in which the atoms are joined in a pattern that repeats in every direction for as far as the sample goes. In diamond, each carbon atom is joined to 4 other carbon atoms, and the links run in every direction. In graphite, the gray material in pencils, each carbon atom is joined to 3 others in flat sheets, and the sheets are stacked loosely on top of each other. In copper wire, copper atoms are packed in repeating layers. In quartz, a mineral found in a lot of sand, silicon and oxygen atoms are linked in a repeating network with 2 oxygen atoms for every silicon atom, so its formula is written SiO₂.

5Each printed ball took about 6 minutes to print, so the club planned carefully. For the extended structures, they printed only a small chunk of each pattern and added a sign: "The real pattern keeps going."