How it works
These periodic table comic strip ideas are sorted by what they teach: Groups, Periods, Ionization energy or Atomic radius. They also work as chemistry comic strip ideas for any unit on the elements.
Read the full guide
What each set of strips teaches
Groups: elements in one column have the same number of outer electrons and behave alike. Periods: a new row starts when a new electron shell begins. Ionization energy, the energy needed to remove an electron, generally rises across a row and falls down a column. Atomic radius does the opposite: atoms shrink across a row and grow down a column.
For a strip on ionization
Choose Ionization energy. Draw the nucleus as a hand and the outer electron as something it holds: a tight grip at the right of a row, a loose one at the bottom of a column.
- Write each element's symbol and atomic number on its shirt, so a reader can find it on the table.
- Keep one color for each column. Readers then see the family likeness before they read a word.
Questions and answers
How do you make a comic strip about the periodic table?
Pick one idea, such as why the elements of one column behave alike. Cast two or three elements that show it, give each panel one beat, and label every character with its symbol.
What are some chemistry comic strip ideas?
Sodium hands its one outer electron to chlorine and the two become table salt. The halogens pose for a class photo as two gases, a liquid and a solid. Argon, whose name means lazy, spends the night doing nothing inside a light bulb.
What is a periodic table comic strip idea about ionization?
A race across period 2: lithium, on the left, gives up an electron for the least energy, and neon, on the right, holds on hardest. Or sodium, which sells one electron cheaply and will not sell a second.
Which elements make good comic characters?
Ones with a clear habit: the alkali metals, stored under oil because they react so readily, fluorine, the most reactive element of all, and the noble gases, which hardly react.