Grade 11 Confucius Pointers for Physical Science.

Unit 1: Nucleosynthesis: The Beginning of the Elements

Lesson 1: The Big Bang Theory and the Formation of Light Elements
 The big bang theory is a cosmological model that describes how the universe started
its expansion about 13.8 billion years ago.
 Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), also known as primordial nucleosynthesis, is the
process of producing light elements during the big bang expansion.
 The correlation between the predicted and observed cosmic abundances of hydrogen
and helium was the major proof of the big bang theory.
 Theoretical physicists calculated the abundances of primordial material based on the
big bang theory.
 Astronomers had measured abundances of primordial material such as chondrites
and unprocessed gas in some parts of the universe with no stars.

Lesson 2: Stellar Evolution and the Formation of Heavier Elements

 Stellar nucleosynthesis is the process by which elements are formed within stars.
 The primary factor that determines how stars evolve is mass .
 The star formation theory proposes that stars form due to the collapse of the dense
regions of a molecular cloud.
 Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes during its lifetime.
 All stars are born from clouds of gas and dust called nebulae or molecular clouds that
collapsed due to gravity.
 As a cloud collapses, it breaks into smaller fragments which contract to form a
superhot stellar core called a protostar .
 The protostar continues to accumulate gas and dust from the molecular cloud and
continues to contract while the temperature increases, forming a main sequence star .
 Main sequence star transforms into red giants if hydrogen atoms successfully fuse to
form the helium core.
 When the core can no longer produce energy to resist gravity, the star undergoes an
explosion, called a supernova .
 Stellar nucleosynthesis is the process by which elements are formed in the cores and
overlying layers of the stars through nuclear fusion reactions.
 Hydrogen burning is a set of stellar processes that produce energy in the stars.
 Proton-proton chain reaction is a chain reaction by which a star transforms
hydrogen into helium.
 The carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle is composed of six steps which involves
repeated proton capture and beta-plus decay .
 Helium burning is a set of stellar nuclear reactions that uses helium to produce
heavier elements such as beryllium, oxygen, neon, and iron.
 The triple-alpha process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions that start with three
helium-4 nuclei (also called alpha particles ) that are converted to carbon-12.
 The alpha process , also known as the alpha ladder , is a set of nuclear reactions that
convert helium into heavier elements .
Unit 2: The Atomic Theory
Lesson1: The Concept of Atom in Ancient Times
 Scientific inquiries are very hard to answer in the ancient era because of lack of
appropriate tools.
 Ancient Greek philosophers were the first to suggest the concept of the atom.
 Democritus and Leucippus were the first Greek scholars who believed in atomism
and pioneered the study of the composition of and changes in matter.
 According to atomism, nature is composed of two basic principles: atom and void.
 The idea of atomism was set aside because of the ideas of Plato about nature
elements.
 However, the Greeks’ concept of atoms and even Aristotle’s arguments were
rediscovered and revived after being proven to be true.

Lesson 2: Discover of the Subatomic Particles

 The development of the atomic structure started with the idea presented by
Democritus that all matter is made up of small indivisible particles called atomos.
This idea is widely known in the ancient Greece as atomism.
 A more precise description of the atom was presented by John Dalton later on. In his
solid sphere model, he imagined an atom to be extremely small and indivisible.
 JJ Thomson’s cathode-ray tube experiment allowed him to discover the electron. He
then proposed the plum pudding model where an atom is presented as a uniform
positively charged sphere embedded with electrons.
 The plum-pudding model of JJ Thomson was challenged when a physicist named
Ernest Rutherford performed a gold foil experiment. The results of his experiment
lead to the discovery of the nucleus, a dense central core with a positive charge.
 Ernest Rutherford then developed the nuclear model of an atom, in which all the
positive charges are in the nucleus while the electrons are orbiting around it.
 James Chadwick proved the existence of neutrons which are neutral particles in the
nucleus of the atom by bombarding alpha particles on beryllium. His discovery of
neutrons solved the mystery on how protons clump themselves together in the
nucleus.

Lesson 3: Bohr Model of the Atom

 The principles of quantum chemistry established new concepts that founded Bohr’s
atomic model.
 In Bohr’s atomic model, the electrons are positioned in fixed orbits and revolve
around the nucleus. These orbits are also called energy levels because they have fixed
energies.
 Bohr’s atom is stable. The electrons in the allowed orbits do not radiate energy, which
prevents the electrons from being pulled by the nucleus.
 Electrons can move between energy levels. The energy level at which the electron
normally resides is called the ground state. In a process called promotion or
 excitation, an electron moves to a higher energy level, called the excited state, when
sufficient energy is acquired.
 The electron goes back to its ground state by relaxation, and energy is released in the
form of light. This explains why metals give off characteristic color when heated.
 Bohr’s atomic model cannot explain the spectral characteristics of larger atoms.