KS3/4 Science - Periodic Table: Ferocious Elements

Everything in this world consists in chemical reactions. Man is to begin this journey and hope the findings will be used in a good way. Although many chemists working for corporations as evil and as they are not the best of them.

There are some very great sources here and thank you for being so kind to post them here. So we can read them and give our opinion on subject.

I loved the periodic table
it just got my mind straight in
i learnt lots of things i saw in there
i would love to show it to my class

What a fascinating way of teaching the periodic table. If I were taught that way, I would never have forgotten any part of it. I forwarded this video to my science colleague and she thought it was brilliant and captivating. Very useful for engaging boys too!

This really helped me learn at Lambrook!

Watched this today with my class.
Suggested Homework to look at resourses and choose one to do.

the video is good and helped me.

This video is really useful. It show reactivity of Alkalines and Halogens clearly.
I wanted to see the reaction between Cs and Fl.

Really a marvellous approac, i'll surely use it in my teaching. Properties are shown in a veryyyyyyy good manner.I Hope to see same for other groups as well.

I am the demonstrator who added caesium to water in the video, Ferocious Elements. I must
apologise for not blowing up the trough of water as they did over 20 years ago at the Open University.
I asked the OU for details but they were rather cagey about the whole affair. Was it faked? I dont know for certain but it could have been a rather large amount of potassium that did it. There were no blue sparks in their explosion. In the present video, I was dropping the caesium from a height onto the surface of water. It reacted before it sank! By the way, it cost £60 each for the caesium and the rubidium. It was really weird cutting the soft caesium under liquid paraffin.
The issue of caesium arose in Brainiac as well. In Bad Science, http://www.badscience.net/?p=261#more-261, Dr Ben Goldacre showed that the exploding bath tub was faked. Now many teachers have said yes but it still looks good so we still show it. But should we fake a demonstration this far? There is a big difference between knowing short cuts and tricks of the trade to completely falsifying results.
Well there is something for your classes to discuss. Is it How science should work?
Bob Worley

Ferocious elements video was very good - my only slight criticism is that it was a shame it didn't show how caesium can smash the glass tank - kids love this and it diffrentiates better between caesium and rubidium

Appropriate length for a classroom introduction to the periodic table. Explains trends very clearly and makes good use of real-life examples to bring the periodic table to life - it's not just a boring poster on the classroom wall anymore! Would be useful to display the words used on the screen as they're spoken (e.g. halogen, fluorine etc.).

An informal approach by the presenter makes this an informative introduction to the periodic table, reflecting everyday uses of elements. It stimulates discussion within the class about elements and compounds. The graphics demonstrate the changing properties of the elements clearly.

This covers a good part of one of the KS4 chemistry topics and could be shown as revision of a topic or in small sections for groups 1 and 7 or just metals at KS3. The explosive bits always hold interest in students and the unreactive metals were dealt with in a nice artistic way. My students liked the reactive elements best and felt too long was spent on the the unreactive metals. They also wanted to know what made the metals reactive or unreactive so that was a nice introduction into the theory part for me. The spray gun flame testing was a good new technique for me!

On the whole a good video with just some missed opportunities.
Cu Ag Au not in a group but part of a BLOCK.
A COMPOUND of fluorine is in drinking water.
Ferocious confusion with Ferric?
The most ferocious reaction depends upon EACH of the reactants.
The most ferocious reaction comes from the OPPOSITE extremes of the groups.( F+I an exception?-good for asking pupils to predict. I had never seen this one before)
SHOW what maleable means by demonstrating silversmithing, gold beating,gold leaf

I like to show students things we can't do in the lab, and this is another! I agree the alkali metals always go down well (even if the "smashing bowl" demo is mislabelled in the resources we bought). However I am still waiting for Braniac series2 on DVD - what do tyou mean, you've not seen the exploding bathtubs?
Yes, and the flame tests are impressive ... we're on the look out for small cheap bottles even now!
Above all it is accessible. Someone walking down a street, market traders, real people.

Thank you

As an introduction to atoms and elements in KS3 it is excellent. It has some good clips to show varying reactivity of different metals - it sets up a lesson on Alkali metals for instance. It gives a good discussion on reactivity and shows some nice bangs. IT also gves a good starter for a class discussion about elements and reactivity.

Lovely videos of the halogen reactions, and of Group 1. Sadly the caesium here doesn't smash the glass bowl which it does in other videos I've used (generally the bit students love the most), although I like the way the experimenter runs away! I'm not sure about the benefit of the start with copper, silver and gold - not much ferocious about those. Maybe some more exciting elements would have been more appropriate for a video called "ferocious elements"! Finally, the link to the "supporting information provided by the educational consultant for this programme" doesn't seem to work at the moment.

This is an excellent summary for revision purposes at KS 3/4 or as a reminder as part of an A'level induction programme. It is very well crafted and the sequence of practical demonstrations is wonderful seen side by side in a way that is impossible to achieve in the school lab.

Good length. Would keep students' interest. Magnetic meteorite and explosions - all good stuff. But there are other videos and software eg ChemSet 2000 that deliver similar video clips........it would be useful to have more videos on difficult / less exciting parts of chemistry. A few areas of ambiguity - the 'lump' of sodium could be taken to mean the block it was sitting on........nothing was said about the silver earings that would not have applied to gold or copper........and 'moving on to reactive metals' after looking at metal compounds is potentially confusing.............but still good value

An excellent video that can be incorporated into the new GCSE Science Specification e.g. C5 from EDEXCEL. It contrast real life uses of elements and some fantastic demonstrations, some of which cannot occur in a school lab. A thought provoking video to be used for reviewing Groups 1, 7 and Transition Metals of the Periodic Table.

A potentially useful teaching resource, either to introduce a topic or to summarise. About the right length to keep students' attention and relating elements/compounds to everyday situations. Good demonstration of some experiments that cannot be done in school and some useful hints for how to do others (I liked the flame test example).
Simple enough for most abilities to understand, but would allow discussion for more able - why does the reactivity increase/decrease etc.

As a non-chemist, I will certainly use this film in my S1 Science lessons. I really liked the way that the video was centred around everyday applications for the elements. I feel we don't do enough to make science relevant to our pupils and this video is definitely taking the right approach.

During my final PGCE placement last year, I was unable to convince a class that different metals produced different flame colours. The problems of sodium contamination that I experienced won't happen again now that you've shown me the spray gun technique!

a very good, intro to the periodic table, it shows reactions you can not show in school. have use the spray bottle with metal salts to good effect. would like to have the facillities to demonstrate the halogens and alkai metals reacting!!
Video does stimulate discussion by students about the periodic table and is a lead to the electron configuration to explain reactivity

A good, short intro to the periodic table. Shows some reactions you couldn't show in school but has some nice ideas you can use - e.g. use of spray bottle to show flame tests. Relevant to young adults by setting the science in everyday contexts. Graphics show the patterns in the periodic table well. Would lead to a number of follow up questions about comparative reactivity.

Useful video to explore parts of the periodic table. Shows reactions we don't do in the lab. Allows variety in lessons to appeal to varying learning styles. Good summary and comparison of some groups. Will create interest among students and aid discussion.