Radioactive Decay Card Game
by Gabriella Vasquez, Vanessa Diaz, Alex Lozado, and Jack Mulligan
For this project, we had to follow the proficiency scale to the right, which gave us the guidelines to our model. Our group picked the third bullet point in the Simple Content section and created a card game modeled off of Go Fish to represent radioactive decay. In this matching game, you play to learn facts about the five different types of radioactive decay and practice balancing equations. Below is our presentation for this project. |
Content
Radioactive decay-the spontaneous breakdown of an atomic nucleus resulting in the release of energy and matter from the nucleus radiation-the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles atom-the smallest unit of matter that retains all of the chemical properties of an element proton-a stable subatomic particle with a positive electric charge neutron-a subatomic particle of about the same mass as a proton but without an electric charge electron-a stable subatomic particle with a negative electric charge alpha decay- a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle beta decay-a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atomic nucleus gamma decay-type of radioactivity in which some unstable atomic nuclei dissipate excess energy by a spontaneous electromagnetic process positron emission-a type of radioactive decay in which a proton inside a radionuclide nucleus is converted into a neutron while releasing a positron and an electron neutrino electron capture-a process in which the proton-rich nucleus of an electrically neutral atom absorbs an inner atomic electron balancing equations-the act of balancing a chemical equation to create a more stable isotope atomic mass-the mass of an atom of a chemical element atomic number-the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom excited nuclear state-one or more of the protons or neutrons in a nucleus occupy a nuclear orbital of higher energy ground nuclear state-one or more of the protons or neutrons in a nucleus occupy a nuclear orbit of lower energy definitions pulled from dictionary.com |
We started this project by looking at how we wanted to model and learn the main five types of radioactive decay and changes in atoms. We decided to describe these five because they were the main focus in Chapter 21. Once we decided our topic, we then started brainstorming fun ways to help others learn the topic, and landed on a card game. We chose a matching game, somewhat like Go Fish, where the players have to ask each other for a card that matches their card's subject. Some Examples of pairs are "Alpha Decay Atomic Number Change - Atomic Number Changed by 2" , "Gamma Decay symbol - y" , "Beta Decay Definition - the loss of a beta particle". In the deck of 56 cards, it is filled with facts about the five types along with practice problems for balancing equations using decay. Along with our model, we made the short presentation above to explain the rules to our audience along with some background of the subject.
Reflection
This was our first project of Junior year, and even though the content is very interesting, I believe that our project was not the best. Above are pictures of our final presentation and deck of cards. One thing we could have done better was the amount of effort we put in. We had a long time to complete this project, and our group finished within three days, meaning that we had plenty of time to expand our product. Another thing I could have done better was sharing the leadership role. I tend to take over projects, and with this one I could have let my teammates make more decisions or more group discussion. Two things that I believe I did well was staying on task and cooperation. Even though the product wasn't the best, we did stay on task the first couple of days and got the project fully done. I think my group overall worked well together, meaning our cooperation was good along with some discussions. I hope I can improve on quality of work in future projects. |
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