For our latest project in Scimatics we have been working on the bonding of elements and atoms. Specifically, the bonding of atoms covalently and ionically. We had to make an animation showing how certain atoms bonded covalently and ionically. We would use Explain Everything, an app that has a reputation of deleting our projects, so many of us were not looking forwards to this project, myself included. We started by learning about the periodic table, and the different columns of the table, and the different sections (metals, non-metals, and semi-metals).

Then we learned about valence shells. This was the most important thing we researched because, if you know how atoms bond, then you know that atomic bonding revolves completely around the valence shells. After we started to understand valence shells we started a story board on our video. This storyboard was sort of a representation of communicating, which was one of our competencies. We had to draw and then narrate how we imagined our video would look and flow. My main focus in this milestone was to show how I could transition from the ionic bond portion to the covalent bonding portion. Since the ion I had chosen for my video, cyanide, was also part of my chemical compound, hydrogen cyanide, it was fairly easy to transition from the different types of bonding in my video.

The way we showed these different atoms was by drawing them in a Bohr diagram. A Bohr diagram is a diagram designed to show how many electrons are in each valence shell for an atom. It will have the nucleus containing the atomic number, the Element Symbol, and any more info the nucleus needs. Then there are rings surrounding that first circle. Each ring is a valence shell. Understanding and the ability to draw these diagrams was how we would show the other competency we had, processing and analyzing.

Then we had the video itself. It is above this paragraph if you want to watch it. We had to animate the Bohr diagrams we had drawn to show how the different atoms and ions bonded together, ionically and covalently. I am proud of what I made and I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.