MATTER

LESSON 4- HOW IS ATOMIC ENERGY USED TODAY?

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AIMS: 

1.  How is atomic energy used in common inventions?

2.  How is atomic energy used in medicine?

3. How will atomic energy be used in the future?

MOTIVATION: 

Ask students if they can name any things that use atomic energy or power to work.  You might get answers like the atomic bomb, because every child seems to know that one!

Show students pictures of various objects that work because they use atomic energy.

Ask students the following questions:

a.  What are each of these pictures?  (1.  atomic clock, 2.  dental x-ray, 3. GPS device).

b.  How do each of these show use of atomic energy?

Procedure: 

1.  Divide the students into three groups.

2.  Each group will be responsible for researching information on their topic.  They will create a report based on their research with pictures taken from the websites they researched.

Group 1:  They are to use the following websites to find information on atomic products used in everyday life.  (atomic clock, GPS device, carbon dating, nuclear power plants)

 http://howstuffworks.com/atomic-clock.htm  This site has information on how atomic clocks work.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/carbon-14.htm   This site explains how scientists use carbon dating to tell the age of fossils found in rocks.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps.htm  This site explains how a GPS device works.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-bomb.htm  This site explains how a nuclear bomb works.

Group 2:  They are to use the following websites to find information on how nuclear energy or atomic power is used in medicine.

http://enn.com/news/2004-04-27/s_23203.asp 
This site tells how atomic technology is used to fight malaria mosquito.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C001667/nav.cgi?section=app&article=3&page=a A ThinkQuest site that tells about nuclear medicine.

http://cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodirradiation.htm#whatis  This site describes what food irradiation is and how it is used.

 http://science.howstuffworks.com/x-ray.htm  This site tells how x-rays work and how they are used in medicine.

Group 3:  This group is to use the following websites to find information on how atomic energy can be used in the future.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/news-item1.htm  This site has information on how fuel cells may be used to power our homes in the future.

 http://science.howstuffworks.com/news-item10.htm  This site has information about hydrogen fuel celled cars.

 http://science.howstuffworks.com/news-item62.htm  This site tells about a future fuel celled bicycle.

FOLLOW UP:

1.  Students can watch the BrainPop movie on nuclear energy and do the activities.   Log onto

http://brainpop.com/science/energy/nuclearenergy/index.weml

2.  Students can devise a slide show of their reports.

 

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Developed by Bonnie Glasgold, TeachNet, 2004