Family Bonding

This week I was challenged by a friend with a 3-year-old, who knows the elements and how to put them together into basic compounds like H2O, to introduce molecular chemistry to the kids. Ok, I wasn’t “challenged” per se. She posted pictures on Facebook of her kid doing it and I wanted my kids to be able to do that too. Hey, I’m not perfect. I get that Mommy jealousy thing like everyone else.

My undergraduate degrees are in chemical and biomolecular engineering (with a math minor) and I am a packrat so I still have my old modeling kit from organic chemistry. I dust it off and bring it downstairs to show the kids with one takeaway message for the kids – atoms are attracted to each other and bond together to make molecules.

First I ask the kids if they know any chemical names. I expect them to ask what that means, but instead Briana says “CO2”. She can’t remember what CO2 is but she remembers the name is a real chemistry name. Abby fills in the gap “CO2 is carbon dioxide”. “Oh yeah, I remember now, like in the soda,” Bree recalls. Awesome! We’re off to a good start. I tell them that the root word di means 2. So di-oxide means two oxides or two oxygens. A chemical name tells you what elements bond together to make the molecule. So one molecule of CO2 means there is one carbon and two oxygens bonded together.

I open the kit to illustrate the point and the kids each make a CO2 molecule. They call it a "mod-a-cue" and I correct this about ten times until they get it right.

Then I do one more. H2O, which is the chemical name for water with 2 hydrogens and one oxygen. We make a water molecule. Briana calls it a dihydrogen oxygen and I’m so proud.

Then I tell the kids that they can use anything in the kit to make new molecules. As they work I throw out little tidbits. I explain that one of the pieces of the kit represents a double bond, where two elements bond together with four electrons instead of two. That was a bit much so I simplify it to say “the double bond means these two elements are bonded together extra strong”. The double bond piece has two lines one of top of the other. Briana loves the double bond and begins adding those to her molecule.

  

Abby one ups her with the triple bond, which I then explain is real and I show them which tool means triple bond.

For the most part I let them use my kit like a fancy set of Lincoln logs but I keep throwing other chemistry ideas out there while they do it. Yes there is a conversation about s and p orbital shells (I stopped there. We didn’t do d and f.), but for the most part I let the kids create.

  

The other idea, beyond the extra strong double bond, that sticks with the kids is when I take my molecule and say that it is attracted to Abby’s molecule because they both have space (this is how the orbital discussion came up). I attach my molecule to the side of Abby’s. She gets furious. “YOUR MOLECULE IS BAD!” She screams. “Take it off now!” Chemistry is serious business and I did just ruin her bonding experiment. I apologize and take it off, only to say my bad molecule is now attracted to Briana’s. “Why does it do that?” asks a much less angry Briana. “Because it is charged and yours is charged so they are attracted like magnets to each other. Charged molecules charge other molecules and stick together. All of the atoms and molecules that aren’t fully bonded to things are charged. They keep bonding until they are full and happy.”

The kids love this idea…not with their molecules, but with bonding things to Mommy’s charged molecule until it is all full and good again. They want to know what happens to a full molecule if it wants something new and I ask them to figure it out. They try to stuff new elements on a full molecule and can’t. Abby pulls an oxygen off and puts a helium on (the kids named the ball the elements they knew so we have oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and helium). I cheer. “That’s exactly what happens. If a molecule is full and finds a better partner, it has to drop what it already has to get the new one.”

Writing doesn’t always have to be creative. I show the kids another type of writing – lab notebook documentation. I tell the girls that real scientists record what they make in a lab notebook. I give each of them their very own notebooks to record their findings.

Abigail tries multiple times to hand draw a hexagon and each time she is displeased with the results. I am pleased with her dedication to precision. Eventually she comes up with a better plan – tracing the molecule to get the shape right.

  

Briana loves the lab notebook. She makes a couple of entries and then writes in the names so she’ll know what she’s made. (Yeah, yeah, intersections can be carbons and names can include ways of bonding, etc. And most of their molecules couldn’t really exist. She’s five. We only account for the balls added.)

As you can tell, there’s little for me to do while they play, so I take lots of pics today.

At dinner, about eight hours with a nap later, the kids are still ecstatic. I have a Diet Coke and Abby tells my husband, “Daddy I see carbon dioxide. In chemical engineering that is CO2. That means one red one and two white ones.” Briana adds on, “One carbon and two oxygens. Di – that means two oxygens.” They remember everything. They describe their waters as H2O, two blue and one white atom. They even tell Daddy that “some molecules are bad molecules and they get charged and then stick to someone else’s molecule until they are all full and not charged. Then they turn good.” Not to be too overly excited, but honestly I’d bet my kids understanding of molecular attraction is pretty impressive, not just for their age but for most people. Ok, no more out right bragging. Thanks for indulging me the one J Briana proudly shows off her lab notebook and explains to Daddy how you name a molecule. Daddy, who also has chemical and biomolecular engineering undergrad degrees, is a good sport and lets the kids tell him all about it.

You do not need to be a scientist to go buy kits like this for your kids. Even if they take away what mine did (there are lots of different elements that come together to make different molecules and they continue to be charged until they are full) that's a great understanding of basic chemistry and you can build on it. 

Nothing bonds a family together like good chemistry.

<3 Pedigreed Housewife