The Orbitron

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Wed, 06/10/2015 - 12:06
Description

Do you want to show your students beautiful illustrations of atomic orbitals? My favorite place to go is the Orbitron, Mark Winter's gallery of AOs and MOs on the web. Not only can you see images, but you can link to different representations of the wave functions and electron density functions.

Flash is required for this site.

Web Resources from the 2013 Inorganic Curriculum Survey

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Wed, 06/10/2015 - 10:49

 

In the 2013 Inorganic Curriculum Survey, respondents were asked about the resources they used when they teach inorganic chemistry. About 20% of respondents selected "other" and provided information about these resources. A number of people mentioned specific websites. This collection consists of the websites submitted in the survey.

Periodically Periodic

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Sun, 01/25/2015 - 08:50
Description

I like having students look at data and then explain data based on what they know about periodic trends. This activity uses the data we all use for radii and ionization energies and asks students to look just a little bit deeper. 

I have gone back and forth between using this as an in class activity (my current practice) and using some of these questions on exams. 

Maggie's LOs

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 09/12/2014 - 17:25

Examining and Drawing Atomic Orbitals

Submitted by Chris Goh / Williams College on Tue, 07/15/2014 - 23:57
Description

This exercise makes use of a web-based tool to review quantum numbers of the orbitals of the hydrogen atom and to visualize atomic orbitals in 3D. Students are asked to draw the 1s-, 2p- and 3d-orbitals.

The Structure and Color of Alums

Submitted by EGunn / Simmons College on Mon, 07/14/2014 - 13:09
Description

This is an in-class assignment designed to help students integrate their understanding of periodic trends and materials properties. Using the color of alum crystals as an example of octahedral coordination chemistry, students use their knowledge of electronic structure and periodic trends to predict which of the isomorphous alum crystals will be colored, and to qualtitatively rank the degree of crystal field splitting in a family of alum crystals.

A Jablinko game to promote learning of excited state transitions

Submitted by Alycia Palmer / The Ohio State University on Wed, 06/11/2014 - 09:48
Description

The in-class game Jablinko was designed to make learning excited state transitions fun. To play, a student chooses an excited state by placing a game chip at the top of the board, then the chip can “vibrationally cool” by bouncing through the pegs, and finally “transition” to a lower energy state in the bottom row. The students then compete to be the first to name the transition (e.g. S1 to T1 is called intersystem crossing).

The Atomic Building

Submitted by Aman Sra / University of Texas at Dallas on Mon, 01/13/2014 - 13:01
Description

Description: This is an in class activity I use for first year general chemistry students to understand the relationship between quantum numbers and the structure of the atom.

 

QSAR and Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Vanessa / Albion College on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 14:59
Description

This presentation provides a short introduction to Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships and its use in Inorganic Chemistry. A brief introduction to Linear-Free Energy Relationships and the Hammett Equation is given, followed by three examples of how QSARs have been used in inorganic chemistry.