Summary

In this activity, students will complete a short series of questions as they watch the Founders of Chemistry video about Lise Meitner. The video tells the story of Lise Meitner, a pioneering female scientist in the field of nuclear chemistry, who was denied a Nobel Prize but has an Element named in her honor.

Grade Level

High and Middle School

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students should be able to

• Describe Lise Meitner’s contribution to chemistry.
• Indicate that nuclear fission is a process that helped develop future nuclear developments, such as nuclear energy and weapons.
• Briefly describe how fission is related to Einstein’s equation, E=mc².

Chemistry Topics

This activity supports students’ understanding of

• Nuclear Chemistry
• Radioactive Isotypes
• Atomic Structure
• Atomic Theory
• Subatomic Particles
• History of Chemistry

Time

Teacher Preparation: minimal

Lesson: 10 minutes

Materials

• Student Handout
• Projector with Volume
• Access to the Lise Meitner Video
• AACT Student Pass (optional)

Safety

• No specific safety precautions need to be observed for this activity.

Teacher Notes

• The Lise Meitner video was developed as part of the AACT original video series, Founders of Chemistry. The entire series can be found here.
• The running time of this video is 4 minutes and 50 seconds.
• This video is intended for students to watch, and for teachers to integrate into their curriculum.
• The student questions/answers are presented in sequential order in the video.
• An answer key has also been provided for teacher reference.