Examining and Drawing Atomic Orbitals
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
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
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
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
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.
Databases for Kinetics
Description
I recently came across some web resources for teaching kinetics. They are searchable compilations of kinetics data, principally gas-phase. Two of the sites include "recommended" data for use in simulations.
I describe the four sites here and the URLs are here and below.
http://jpldataeval.jpl.nasa.gov/
This is a critical tabulation of the latest kinetic and photochemical data for use by modelers in computer simulations of atmospheric chemistry
A Visual Isotope Effect (a YouTube video)
Description
We have prepared a YouTube video demonstrating a visually accessible kinetic isotope effect in the Cr(VI) oxidation process, a reaction commonly encountered in introductory organic chemistry. The demo provides students with an opportunity to see an isotope effect and then understand how it can be used to provide mechanistic evidence for the identification of a rate-determining reaction step.
Atomic Orbital Display
Description
This is a jmol display of the atomic orbitals from 1s to 4f that can be rotated in space. They are plotted relative to the x, y, and z-axes.