'A, B, See This Is IT! Technique to Chemistry' Just repeat after me...

What is chemistry? Well the "y" means the study of.... Biology is the study of biological stuff..... Psychology is the study of the psyche,... So chemistry must be the study of chemicals, but what exactly is a chemical?

How 's about this! What's the difference between an 'element' and an 'atom'? It's a trick question! They are the same thing! --{Technically it could be said that an element is an accumulation of that element's atoms=all the isotopes if more than one exists in a sample...as we'll see it's the protons that determine the chemical identity of the atom and the number of neutrons doesn't really affect the 'chemistry'! So an isotope is the same element cause it has the same number of protons but there can be different numbers of neutrons in a sample of an element, and others there is only one isotope...See the 'Chart of the Nuclides', and you'll see tin has ten to twelve common isotopes, while fluorine, sodium, and phosphorus (and others) have only one}--

All the Periodic Table of the Elements does is list the atoms/elements one by one in the order they get bigger numbers of protons (there are three instances of the weights in reverse order can you find them? (potassium and argon are one...) So what do you think the simplest atom (or element) is? I'll give you a hint. It's got the atomic number one {"next to the symbol H.... {"Hydrogen" let audience answer!} What do you think the next simplest atom's number is? {Show a Peace Sign} Two!

So the chemistry books say there are three types of 'fundamental particles' in chemistry anybody know what they are? Protons (p+), neutrons (n0), and electrons (e-). {Write 'p, n, e' on the board} What do you think the electric charge on an electron is? Negative so what do you think the electric charge on a proton is? {Write '-' then a '+' for proton and a '0' for neutron} Positive... and a neutron?....Well for the 'A, B, See This Is IT! Technique to Chemistry' we don't even talk about neutrons...{cross out n0 on board}, and for protons other than hydrogen having one proton we don't even need to talk about protons (cross out p+ on board!) so all that's left to count are the e-s...(so the tiniest of the three particles is what dictates the chemistry of the elements bonding configurations....)

All I ask you to memorize is that hydrogen has one p+ and one e-. And that helium has a pair of e-s. And all I'll ask you do is count to eight! And most of the time you get to count by twos! (Two Four Six EIGHT WHO DO WE APPRECIATE? _______{[Write on the board (one e- and one p+ and H) then write the 2e-s and two p+'s and He]}

Now we don't find hydrogen by itself (unless you're out in the universe somewhere) but here on earth it's bonded to other atoms. We can find it as H2(gas), there's just something about pairs of electrons or bound to carbon or nitrogen or oxygen...

So for hydrogen's one e- we find that it pairs with another to form what's called a di-atomic, di=two, so a 'two atom' molecule {there is a three atom ring H3 known to exist in stardust clouds, and even a metallic hydrogen that gives jupiter it's magnetic field but those are exceptions that are not here in general chemistry...}

How many protons and electrons does helium have? Two protons, WAIT! we don't care about protons so, how many electrons does helium have? Right two! What would happen if you held a match to helium balloon? (Someone almost always invariably will say "IT EXPLODES!" to which I ask "Would we let our little brothers and sisters have explosive balloons with their birthday candles around? I know you would like to, but NO! HELIUM WILL NOT REACT WITH ANYTHING1 THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED A NOBLE INERT GAS!

It's Hydrogen (gas) that will technically become inflammable (will burn violently, not explode...) they said the Hindenberg blimp was burning hydrogen *(now it's believed that it was a redox reaction in the aluminum framing that was ignited...)

So if you just learn the difference in the electron distribution between the first two elements there is enough to build a good understanding of chemical bonding properties. The two hydrogen atoms share the pair of electrons between the two protons in the H2 molecule...(yes you may ask that two e-s will repel each other but it's found that a pair of e-s that's said to have opposing spin will form a "Cooper Pair" (that won a Nobel prize for Cooper! more specifically for super cold super conducting substances...)

For the inert helium atom there is a pair of electrons surrounding the two protons that are bound in the nucleus (by either one or two neutrons) You'll see that protons and neutrons need each other to form larger atoms in stars (on the PHYSICS PAGE...) a neutron will decay by itself and two protons won't stick together so the neutrons need the protons as much as the protons need the neutrons....

Is that more than one minute?