Joint Earth Science Education Initiative - Minerals & elements in the Earth's Crust

Gives information about the most common elements in the Earth’s crust and the chemical composition of some minerals.

Websites

Minerals and elements in the earth's crust

Level

11-14 years

Use

Specification

Northern Ireland
- GCSE
  - CCEA Chemistry
    - Unit 1: Structures, Trends, Chemical Reactions, Quantitative Chemistry and Analysis
      - 1.5 Symbols, formulae and equations
        1.5.1 recognise symbols and names for common elements and recall the diatomic elements;
        1.5.2 interpret chemical formulae by naming the elements and stating the number of each type of atom present;
  - CCEA Double award science
    - Unit C1: Structures, Trends, Chemical Reactions, Quantitative Chemistry and Analysis
      - 1.5 Symbols, formulae and equations
        1.5.1 recognise symbols and names for common elements and recall the diatomic elements;
        1.5.2 interpret chemical formulae by naming the elements and stating the number of each type of atom present;
England
- GCSE
Wales
- GCSE
  - WJEC Chemistry
    - Unit 1: CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES, REACTIONS and ESSENTIAL RESOURCES
      - 1.1 THE NATURE OF SUBSTANCES AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS
        (a) elements as substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means and as the basic building blocks of all substances
        (b) elements as substances made up of only one type of atom
        (c) compounds as substances made of two or more different types of atom that are chemically joined and having completely different properties to its constituent elements
        (d) how to represent elements using chemical symbols and simple molecules using chemical formulae
  - WJEC Combined science
    - Unit 2: Chemistry 1
      - 2.1 THE NATURE OF SUBSTANCES AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS
        (a) elements as substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means and as the basic building blocks of all substances
        (b) elements as substances made up of only one type of atom
        (c) compounds as substances made of two or more different types of atom that are chemically joined and having completely different properties to its constituent elements
        (d) how to represent elements using chemical symbols and simple molecules using chemical formulae

Article
Will we run out of elements?

2024-09-26T05:14:00Z By Kit Chapman

From helium to lithium and more, chemists are developing circular economies to preserve precious elements
Opinion
Why I hate formula triangles

2024-09-20T05:21:00Z By David Wait

Read why one teacher asks if it’s time to change the formula when teaching calculation questions
Poster
Help learners understand Earth’s atmosphere

2024-09-02T07:00:00Z By Niall Begley

Stratospheric success guaranteed when you use this poster, fact sheet and resource with your 11–14 year-old learners