Apologia: Chemistry, Periodic Table

As mentioned before, this week the Chemistry class needs to do a lab or two.  The class will get an introduction to ionic compounds Ionic Formula Writing and a precipitate lab.  When two solutions combine and form a solid, it is a type of precipitate reaction.  The class is going to conduct a series of reactions and name the ionic compounds which form.The link Ionic Precipitate Lab is similar.  The kids are going to do an activity in which they make exactly one 3 ounce paper cup of Kool-aid, an activity which requires a bit of conversions and some thinking.  If time permits, the Chemistry class may do a timeline of scientists who contributed to the development of the Periodic Table: Dmitri Mendeleev, Johann Dobereiner, A.E. de Chancourtois, John Newlands, Stanislao Cannizzaro, Glen Seaborg, Lothar Meyer, William Odling, and Henry Moseley.  The development of the Periodic Table coalesced around 1864; several scientists worked independently to arrive at very similar conclusions, practically at the same time, a phenomena which occurs fairly often in science.  Lothar Meyer's table was very much like Mendeleev's.  So, one may ask why Mendeleev earned the credit, rather than Meyer?