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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2007  > November  >
In the Classroom
Origin of the Formulas of Dihydrogen and Other Simple Molecules
Andrew Williams
University Chemical Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
Cover
November 2007
Vol. 84 No. 11
p. 1779
Abstract
The logic and experimental data are described with which chemists originally deduced the formulas of the fundamental compounds such as H2, H2O, Cl2, NH3, CH4, and HCl. This information is never provided in current texts at any level and the formulas of such simple compounds are taken as axiomatic. It is argued that fourth-year high school and first-year undergraduate students studying chemistry would gain substantially from exposure to the fascinatingly simple but very powerful logic with which these molecular formulas and structures were deduced. The article provides an ample number of examples from which an instructor can choose to complement the standard topics in an introductory course. Further explanations, questions, and worked answers are provided in the Supplemental Material to assist students and also to help the instructor place the topic in the chemistry syllabus.
Supplement
Further explanations, questions, and worked answers to assist students and to help the instructor place the topic in the chemistry syllabus are available.
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Citation
Williams, Andrew. J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84, 1779.
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Keywords
Chemical Education Research; Enrichment / Review Materials; First-Year Undergraduate / General; History / Philosophy; Molecular Properties / Structure; Polymer Chemistry
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
9/19/2007
9/27/2007
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