How to play
You Bet Your Isotope!
Introduction to Neutrons and Isotopes
You Bet Your Isotope finishes the story about the basic parts of the atom - the protons, electrons and neutrons. There are games of chance for eight out of the ten elements you must capture. First watch the video on how to make a helium atom, with a game of chance to determine how many neutrons you will need.
YouBetIsotope2sm from Julie Newdoll on Vimeo.
You Bet Your Isotope© has little games of chance on the board for eight of the ten elements, based on the actual probability of getting a particular isotope. Two elements do not have isotopes in nature - beryllium and fluorine. In some cases, the chances of getting a particular isotope is so small, it is really easy to guess what the outcome will be - but how exciting if someone actually got helium 3! Players wager their neutrons against each other when playing the games of chance to see how many neutrons an element will have. The player or team to construct their neon atom out of all the protons, electrons and neutrons they win during play is the winner.
Here is how to play one of the games of chance. The player must first predict whether they think the oxygen will have 8 neutrons (the safe bet) or 10 neutrons (the risky bet). Then they will roll the 12 sided die two times and see if they get their number both times. If they manage to do this, then they put one red bead and two blue beads in the opaque cloth bag. They will reach in and pull out a bead without looking. If they pull out the red bead, then their atom has 10 neutrons. If they fail in rolling their numbers or pulling out the bead, then their atom has 8 neutrons. It is also used to collect neutrons during the game, and sometimes other rewards.
For your information, but not necessary to know this to play the game, here is how the games of chance work. The chance in nature of getting 10 neutrons in oxygen is, as it says, .21%. If you rolled your number successfully twice, this would be a 1/12 x 1/12 chance, or .61%. There is a 1/3 chance of picking the red bead, so .61 x .33 = .2013. It is not exactly .21%, but it is close and gets the point across.
Make your own helium atom model, including the neutrons!