Link to Ionization Energy vs Atomic Radius lesson.
Video explaining description of the lesson.
Video showing procedures for the lesson.
This complies with Chemistry syllabus standard Section A, Content 4.0(c)(i) (WASSCE 2016).
An important property of atoms is ionization energy, or the amount of energy required to strip off and free a valence electron from a particular type of atom. But why do some atoms require more energy to remove an electron than others? One factor in this observation is atomic radius. Because the negatively charged electron is attracted to the positively charged nucleus, the distance between valence electrons and the nucleus determines the strength of that attraction, through Coulomb's law of electric force.
This lesson uses nothing but a few pieces of paper to simulate for students this inverse relationship: the smaller the atomic radius, the higher the ionization energy. Enjoy!
