Candy Molecules

 During science today, we made molecules out of candy.  Different candies were used to represent different atoms. 


1.)  The first molecule we made was sodium chloride (NaCl).  As you can see, the gummy circle is sodium, and the big chocolate marshmallow is chlorine.  All the x's around the chlorine atom represent its seven electrons, and the little dot by the sodium atom represents its one electron.  They are sharing sodium's electron, because if chlorine gains one more electron, it becomes stable, which is what all molecules want to become. 


2.)  The second molecule we made was water, or H2O.  The pink candy represents the oxygen atom, and the two gummy circles represent the hydrogen atoms.  The x's are the hydrogen atoms' electrons, and the dots are the oxygen's electrons.  As you can see, both hydrogens are sharing their electrons with oxygen, so oxygen has the use of eight electrons.  Therefore, it is stable.  

3.)  The third molecule we made was carbon dioxide or  CO2.  The big chocolate marshmallow in the center of the molecule is a carbon atom, and the two gummy circles represent oxygen atoms.  As you can see, the carbon atom is sharing two of its electrons with each of the oxygen atoms, and each of the oxygen atoms are sharing two of their electrons with the big carbon atom.  This means that each atom has a total of eight electrons each.  They are all stable, and they are all "happy". 








4.)  The last molecule we made was CH4.  The picture doesn't show it, but there were really four gummy bears surrounding the Turkish Delight, not three.  Each gummy bear represented one hydrogen atom, and the Turkish Delight represented the carbon atom.  We drew the diagram incorrectly.  Correctly drawn, all the hydrogen atoms would have only one electron, which they would be sharing with the carbon atom.  That way, the carbon atom, which already has four electrons, will end up having eight - one more from each of the four electrons.  However, each hydrogen atom has five electrons, so just ignore that and pretend that they each only have one.