Biology by Bradford
Periodic table and organic escape room
The Sealed Element Archive
A power cut has sealed your team inside the basement archive of a national chemistry museum, where the original element samples sit beside a century of unlabelled organic liquids. The backup security system will only open the doors for someone who can classify matter as surely as the chemists who built the collection. Five locks stand between you and the stairwell. Each lock sets four questions, and your answers decode into its combination. Work fast: the archive's cooling has failed, and the volatile samples on the shelves are warming by the minute.
- 5 locksfour multiple-choice questions at each, 20 in all
- About 45 minutesfor a team of three or four
- Online or on papera link to play, or the pack to print
- ForIB Chemistry SL and HL classes, every value a question needs given (calculations on data-booklet constants)
- Play linkbiologybybradford.com/escape/c-s3
The five locks
Each lock’s four answers are decoded with its puzzle into a four-digit combination, so one wrong answer keeps it shut. The questions climb from recall to evaluating evidence.- Lock 1 · Recall
Element Cabinet
Patterns Easy
Find the missing number. Your digit is its last digit (47 gives 7).
- Lock 2 · Understand
Oxide Store
Petri dishes Easy
Each letter is a petri dish. Count the colonies growing in it.
- Lock 3 · Apply
Naming Desk
Light panel Medium
Add up the numbers above the shaded squares. Careful: every row puts them in a different order.
- Lock 4 · Analyse data
Analysis Bench
Symbol grid Medium
Find the cell for your question and answer. Each symbol is worth a sum; work it out from the key.
- Lock 5 · Evaluate
Vault Door
Logic clues Hard
A, B, C and D are four different digits. Some clues only compare them, so test the possibilities.
Lock 1, as a team sees it
The first four questions and their decoder. The answers, and the reason for each, are in the teacher pack.Which of these elements is classified as a metalloid in the periodic table?
- A Silicon
- B Phosphorus
- C Magnesium
- D Argon
Which element is in period 4 and has the electron configuration [Ar] 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p³?
- A Phosphorus
- B Vanadium
- C Arsenic
- D Antimony
Which functional group do all alcohols contain?
- A Carbonyl (C=O)
- B Carboxyl (COOH)
- C Alkoxy (OR)
- D Hydroxy (OH)
Successive members of a homologous series, such as the alkanes, differ by which structural unit?
- A CH₃
- B CH₂
- C C₂H₄
- D CH₄
Patterns
EasyFind the missing number. Your digit is its last digit (47 gives 7).
Running it
- Online: send teams the play link. They answer a lock’s four questions, decode the letters and enter the combination; after lock 5 they get a completion code to show you. Nobody needs an account.
- On paper: sign in (free) and print the teacher pack: question cards, the five decoders, a guide and the answer key with a reason for every answer.
- Your version: Edit a copy from the library to change any question, then play and print it by its own code, or build a room from the topics your class has covered.