Model an Arsenic Atom

Spray paint 33 of the foam balls bright red and the other 42 blue; the red balls will represent protons and the blue balls will represent neutrons. Glue all of the proton balls together using a cool-melt glue gun and let them dry. Glue the neutrons randomly to the outside of the proton cluster and let these dry, as well.

Stick a 2-inch piece of plain floral wire into each side of the nucleus you made in step 1. Make sure the wires are straight across from each other. Attach one end of a pipe cleaner to each of the wires and form the pipe cleaner into an arch, then do the same with a second pipe cleaner on the opposite side of the nucleus.

Look at your atom; you should see the foam nucleus with a circle of pipe cleaner around it held by the nearly invisible floral wire. Attach two more pieces of floral wire to opposite sides of the pipe cleaner ring, which represents an electron field, and create another pipe cleaner circle around it.

Continue making rings from floral wire and pipe cleaners until you have four rings; twist together the ends of multiple pipe cleaners when necessary to make them longer. Attach two pom-poms very close together on the ring nearest to the nucleus with your cool-melt glue gun. Glue eight pom-poms onto the second ring and 18 to the third ring, placing them in pairs of two.

Glue five pom-poms to the outside ring of pipe cleaners. Make two pairs and affix them across from each other, then place the lone pom-pom electron somewhere in-between. Let the glue dry on the electrons and your arsenic atom is complete.

Things You'll Need

• Red spray paint
• Blue spray paint
• 75 foam balls
• Cool-melt glue gun
• Cool-melt glue sticks
• 8 floral wires, 2 inches long
• Gray pipe cleaners
• 33 small white pom-poms