Atoms and Elements 01

This KS3 Science quiz asks questions about atoms and elements. Atoms are part of elements and elements are listed in the periodic table. Did you know that atoms are so small, one million atoms in a row is roughly equal to the thickness of a piece of paper? Imagine that!

There were two accepted systems of numbering the periodic table, one of which called the noble gases group VIIIA, often changed informally to group 8 (most commonly used in the USA) and the other that called it group 0 (most commonly used in Europe). The naming of anything in chemistry now is governed by a single organisation IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) and they have simplified the group numbering, the noble gases have now become group 18. Groups are also often referred to by the name of the first element in the group - the noble gases could also be called the helium group.

Other than groups 1 and 2, all of the other group numbers have changed. For example the halogens are no longer officially group 7, they are group 17. At the moment, many school text books still refer to the groups by their old numbers and names though some schools (maybe even yours) may already have changed. For the time being, in these quizzes, we use the numbers used by science teachers in most schools and exams.