This spoof of the song "Isn't It Ironic" (by Alanis Morissette) summarizes the properties of ionic compounds in verse. Suitable for General Chemistry classes as well as Inorganic Chemistry, although a reference is made to the Born-Meyer equation.
Over several decades of teaching General Chemistry I have utilized various methods to get students to draw appropriate Lewis Dot Structures. About 10 years ago I learned about a process which I call the "Account Ledger Method". In this method all valence electrons are assumed to initially belong to the molecule (and placed in a ledger) and not to specific individual atoms. As the molecule is put together those electrons are distributed systematically and removed from the ledger.
This is an in-class PDB exercise based on the paper "Mechanisms Controlling the Cellular Metal Economy" by Gilston and O'Halloran. Students are asked to visualize the metal binding sites of several proteins discussed in the paper, highlighting unusual metal geometries. After identifying the amino acid residues involved in metal binding, students will discuss the bond structure in terms of HSAB theory.
This is a fun chemistry project where students make model compounds to learn various structural aspects of the compound. This is an individual project that is each student is assigned with one compound. They can use any item (for e.g. Styrofoam balls etc) to make their very own model compound. The model should contain all the atoms (visually distinctive), bonds, lone pairs. Student is expected to create something novel rather using molecular model kit. They can use text book and lecture material for the resources.
This in-class activity is to introduce the pairing of diatomic MO diagrams and photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). I will be testing this out in the fall, and will post how it goes.
Introducing you to 3DMolSym: A Web Resource for Teaching Molecular Symmetry that uses Adobe Shockwave for Visualizations and Animations.
Note there is a slight difference when operating this resource on a Mac or in a Windows Operating Systerm. On a Mac if you don't change an item (any item) in the pull down menu on the right when the resouce opens, the selection of molecules will be frame shifted by one molecule. An easy fix is described in the Description below.
This in-class activity walks students through the preparation of a molecular-orbital diagram for methane in a square-planar environment. The students generate ligand-group orbitals (LGOs) for the set of 4 H(1s) orbitals and then interact these with carbon, ultimately finding that such a geometry is strongly disfavored because it does not maximize H/C bonding and leaves a lone pair on C.
Having been inspired by a number of wonderful LOs, I introduced group theory in my 'sophomore' inorganic class this spring. In addition to learning to determine the point group of a molecule, students were taught how to construct a qualitative MO diagram though the use of LGOs. While a little more than 5 slides, this is what I used in lecture to cover the material.
Having been inspired by a number of wonderful LOs, I introduced group theory in my 'sophomore' inorganic class this spring. In addition to learning to determine the point group of a molecule, students were taught how to construct a qualitative MO diagram though the use of LGOs. While this course can be taken with or without the laboratory component, it seemed only natural to include a lab on this material. A previous lab had introduced the students to computational methods for geometry optimization.
Two excellent video presentations on symmetry. The Ted Talk by Marcus du Sautoy is an excellent introduction to the concept of symmetry and systematically describing it. In "Impossible Crystals" Nobel Laureate and physicist Paul Steinhardt discusses the creation of "Impossible crystals": quasi-crystals with five-fold symmetry previously believed impossible.