1. What is a quantum leap? How big is a quantum leap? Advertisers often describe improvements in their products as a "quantum leap." Is this an appropriate use of the term?
2. When you shine invisible ultraviolet light (black light) on certain objects, they glow with brilliant colors. How might this behavior be explained in terms of the Bohr atom?
3. Why do different lasers have different-colored beams?
4. Why is chlorine used in pools and to bleach clothing? What chemical property does chlorine possess that makes it a good chemical for that purpose? Using the periodic table, what other elements might be used instead of chlorine?
5. Space probes often carry compact spectrometers among their scientific hardware. What kind of spectroscopy might scientists use to determine the surface composition of the cold, outer planets that orbit the Sun? How might they use spectroscopy to determine the atmospheric composition of these planets?
6. If you replaced the argon in a typical incandescent bulb with oxygen, what would happen to the filament? Why?
7. What three particles make up every atom? What are the major differences among these particles?
8. Approximately how many elements are necessary to form all the solids, liquids, and gases around us?
9. Imagine you have four different chemical elements in your chemical laboratory. What is the maximum number of 1:1 chemical compounds that you could form? What if you had 12 different chemical elements?
10. Using the periodic table, calculate the result of the following: the number of electrons in the outer shell (valence) of a hydrogen atom minus the number of electrons in the outer shell (valence) of a helium atom plus the number of electrons in the out shell (valence) of a hydrogen atom.