JOURNRL OF
Chemical Education: Software Coordination Compounds
Abstracts for Volume 5C, Number 1
James P. Birk John Foster Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604
AnswerSheets Richard Cornelius Lebanon Val ey Co lege Annv~lle.PA 17003-0501 The series of software modules called AnswerSheets is a collection of files for the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel. The user interface is through dialog boxes, buttons, and pull-down menus; no knowledge of spreadsheets is necessarv in order to run the software. The primam focus of AnswerSheets is to provide answers and explanations to problems that students provide. Modules are available to handle topics as varied as unit conversion, inorganic nomenclature, stoichiometry, and VSEPR structures. The problems that a student provides can come from a textbook, homework, an exam, or any other source. Resources available to help a student include a calculator that understands chemical formulas, a glossary, and a periodic table for access to data about the elements. If a student wants practice problems, AnswerSheets can serve as a nearly limitless source, and it provides answers and explanations to the problems it generates. An additional feature is that each module provides a capsule summary of the topic. The ease of copying questions and answers from AnswerSheets into a word processor also makes the software helpful in the preparation of quizzes, complete with an answer key The modules included in this issue are
Coordination Compounds is a set of Hypercard stacks that allows users to explore the structures of fourcoordinate (square planar and tetrahedral) and six-coordinate (octahedral) compounds and ions. The compounds included in the program illustrate the possible types of structural isomerism found with these coordination numbers. Additional compounds can be added to the set. The user can select the compound from a list or allow random selection by the program. During operation of the program, the user is presented with two views of the structure of a compound. One view is fixed and the other can be rotated around the X, Y, and Z axes. The user is asked to decide whether the two views represent the same compound or different isomers. By rotating the movable structure, the user can obtain identical orientations-if they are possible. Upon deciding that the two structures are identical or isomers, the user can attempt to name the compound, or select a new compound to examine. 0(~")2C12
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Significant Figures Unit Conversion Stoichiometry VSEPR Structures
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Square Pyramidal Molecular Geomcby
Screen from Coordination Compounds Hidc Lone Pair
About This Issue
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John W. Moore Jon L. Holmes ~"ivenityof WisconsiwMadison Madison, WI 53706-1396
Screen from Answer Sheets.
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Journal of Chemical Education
AnswerSheets by Richard Cornelius is a series of spreadsheet macros that allow general chemistry students to enter their own questions and ohtain answers:~nexample of its use is that individualized homework could be assigned and students could later obtain answers to their specific assignment from the computer. AnswerSheets
