Week 2 Discussion Board
Discussions play an integral role in monitoring your course participation throughout the term. You should check back to the weekly discussions multiple times throughout the week to engage in the discussion with your professor and peers. Participation is only counted during the week in which this discussion is assigned. Be sure to appropriately cite any sources you use to support your responses with standard APA citations. Answer the prompt question(s) thoroughly, using at least 150-200 words, and respond to as many of your peers as possible. Note that responses to 2 of your peers are required for full credit. Be sure to answer any additional questions asked by your professor in the discussion threads. Your initial post is due by Day 3 of the current week, and follow up posts to your peers are due on Day 7!
- 50 Points – Rubric Based
- Initial Post due Day 3
- Responses due Day 7
Discussion Question:
In this course we will explore the microscopic structure of everything your eyes have ever seen both on earth (terrestrially) and in the cosmos (celestially). All matter humans have ever beheld, even with the largest telescopes peering deep into space, is composed of the 100 or so atoms contained on the periodic table. You are made up of less than one quarter of the atoms on this table.
We must ask the question, however, “What is an atom?” Perhaps more profoundly, “Where did those atoms come from?” Pause and think for a moment, “The atoms that compose your body, from where did they arise?”. You may correctly answer, “The earth,” but then we must ask further, “where did the atoms that make up the earth come from?”
For us to begin with a fundamental understanding of chemistry, we must have a high-level understanding of where the atoms that compose the periodic table were made. The following video is about 11 minutes long and lays the perfect foundation for your understanding of all the chemistry you will ever need.
After watching the video, please craft a discussion post, making sure to address the following:
- What is an atom, and what subatomic particles make up atoms?
- What do you and a star have in common?
- How do you think this course relates to your profession?
- What topics of chemistry are you interested in?
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