HANDOUT 3.

Name: ………………………..( ) Class: …………… Date: …………...

NAVAL BASE SECONDARY SCHOOL

SECONDARY 1 2025
G2/G3 SCIENCE
CHAPTER 3: EXPLORING DIVERSITY OF MATTER BY ITS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

HANDOUT 3.1

THEME: DIVERSITY
Key Inquiry Questions include:
1. How does the diversity of things contribute to our lives?
2. How do we classify things in our world?
3. How do we find out the properties and characteristics of things around us?

Essential Takeaways
1. The diversity of the rich resources in the natural world is important for the continual survival of living
things.
2. We have to use nature’s resources responsibly and sustainably, e.g., applying the 3Rs (reduce,
reuse, recycle).
3. We continually seek to understand the complexity in the natural world by studying it in a systematic
manner.

Part I: Pre-lesson preparation

Before the lesson, I’m ready!

✓ read and annotate the key points in the textbook from page 60-64.

Part II: Learning objectives

Key Inquiry Questions You should be able to: Not Got

(Topic- specific) Yet it
What are the basic building o state that elements are the basic
blocks of matter and their building blocks of living and non-living
chemically combined matter.
derivatives? o recognise that there are different types
of elements represented in the Periodic
Table of Elements, e.g., metals and
non-metals.
o state the vertical column as ‘Group”
and horizontal column as ‘Period” in
the Periodic Table.
o describe the change from metallic to
non-metallic character from left to right
across a period of the Periodic Table.

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o name the elements (noble gases) in

Group and state the lack of reactivity of
these elements.

Elements

1) Elements are the basic building blocks of living and non-living matter.

2) Elements are made up of the same type of atoms. Atoms are the smallest
particles of matter.

3) An element is a pure substance that cannot be broken down into two or more
simpler substances by chemical means.

4) Elements are arranged in some order in the Periodic Table (simplified version is
shown below) and they are classified into metals and non-metals.
Each element has a chemical symbol, of one or two letters, that represents it.
E.g. Hydrogen has chemical symbol, H, and carbon has chemical symbol, C.

5) Elements on the left side of the zig-zag line are metals (81) and elements on the
right side of the zig zag line are non-metals (22).

non-metals

metals

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Elements and their chemical symbols

Refer to the periodic table given to you and match the name of the elements to their
chemical symbols.

Metals Non-metals

Iron ● ● Li Oxygen ● ● H

Calcium ● ● Ag Fluorine ● ● Ne

Potassium ● ● Na Hydrogen ● ● N

Lithium ● ● Ca Neon ● ● O

Silver ● ● Au Nitrogen ● ● F

Copper ● ● Fe Helium ● ● C

Lead ● ● K Carbon ● ● S

Gold ● ● Al Sulfur ● ● Si

Sodium ● ● Zn Boron ● ● He

Magnesium ● ● Pb Chlorine ● ● Ar

Beryllium ● ● Cu Silicon ● ● Cl

Aluminium ● ● Be Argon ● ● P

Zinc ● ● Mg Phosphorus ● ● B

6) Elements arranged in the same column belong to the same group. Elements in the
same group have similar chemical properties.

7) Elements arranged in the same row belong to the same period.

Elements change from metals to non-metals as we go across the period.

8) The physical properties are different between metals and non-metals. In the table
below, compare some of the common physical properties.

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Differences between metals and non-metals

metals non-metals

good conductors of electricity poor conductors of electricity

good conductors of heat poor conductors of heat

malleable (beaten into sheets) and

soft and brittle
ductile (drawn into wires)

high melting and boiling points low melting and boiling point

Group 18 Elements – Noble Gases

Properties of Noble Gases

1. They exists as single atoms and are known as noble gases

2. Noble gases are unreactive (inert) and they do not react with other elements.

Uses of noble gases

noble gases uses property

for filling weather balloons,

helium low density, non-flammable
airships

glows brightly when electricity is

neon in advertising lights
passed through

provides an inert atmosphere to

in light bulbs, in welding and
argon prevent filament in light bulb or steel
making steel
in furnace from reacting with oxygen

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How are elements represented?

Elements can be represented by a particle diagram.

A particle diagram is a box in which circles with different colours, patterns or size are used
to represent an atom.
Circles with different colours, patterns or sizes represents different type of atoms.
Try identifying the elements that are present in each example below.

Atoms and Molecules

● Elements can exist as an atom or a molecule.

atom molecule
An atom is represented by one A molecule is a group of two or more atoms
circle. that are chemically combined (joined together)

A molecule is represented by 2 or more circles

joined together.
Example: oxygen atom For e.g. oxygen molecule

formula: O formula: O2

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