Electronic Configurations
Wednesday the students took their understanding of electronic configurations and energy diagrams for particular atoms, and extended this knowledge to how a material behaves.
The students learned about band diagrams and how these arrangements determine whether a material is conductive, semiconductive or insulating. The students were able to predict whether pure metals of certain elements would be conductive, semiconductive or insulating, which was quite impressive!
The students also learned about graphene, and the many superb properties that graphene presents. In the experiment, the students followed the procedure for the first extraction of graphene, which won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. This was many of their first times seeing a scientific paper, and so the students should read through the paper at home to see how scientific papers are written.
The students then looked on the microscope to see if they extracted graphene. Finally, we discussed quantum tunneling and how this is used in analyzing the surface of materials. We will continue our discussion on properties of materials tomorrow.
— Ryan
