Cations

by Greg Crowther

This song was a short experiment on internal rhymes. Notice that, in addition to the usual end rhymes, each pair of lines also includes a mid-line rhyme. (This is probably most evident in the sheet music linked to below.) The additional rhymes arguably make the lyrics easier to remember.

Cats protect their stuff with claws.
(Cats protect their stuff with claws.)
From cations, electrons have been lost.
(From cations, electrons have been lost.)
Cats' claws can leave a scar.
(Cats' claws can leave a scar.)
Cations are positively charged.
(Cations are positively charged.)
Cations!

• sheet music (with melody play-back)

Songs like this one can be used during class meetings and/or in homework assignments. Either way, the song will be most impactful if students DO something with it, as opposed to just listening.

An initial, simple follow-up activity could be to answer the study questions below. A more extensive interaction with the song might entail (A) learning to sing it, using an audio file and/or sheet music as a guide, and/or (B) illustrating it with pictures, bodily poses, and/or bodily movements. The latter activity could begin with students identifying the most important or most challenging content of the song, and deciding how to illustrate that particular content.

(1) What charge do electrons carry?

(2) How does one determine the net electrical charge of an atom?

(3) What is the term for a negatively charged ion?

(4) Ions and cations: which are a subset of which?

(5) Give an example of a cation.