Volume 6B Number 2

Volume 6B Number 2

In This Issue

KinWORKS: A Learning Tool for Kinetics Lab
 
Richard W. Ramette
Quantum Barrier
 
David A. Lloyd
Animated Demonstrations II: Mass Spectrometer; Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction
 
Philip I. Pavlik
About This Issue

John W. Moore and Jon L. Holmes
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1396

Note:
This issue is out of print.

Chemistry textbooks typically present kinetics problems of only a few types: a table of time and concentration data for a unimolecular reaction; a table of initial rates corresponding to a few different combinations of reactant concentrations; or a table of rate constants at two or more temperatures. Students are asked to deduce orders, rate constants, and activation energies. Such problems are of necessity, and preempt the student's grasp of what had to be done in the lab to obtain the numbers. KinWORKS provides an excellent alternative, allowing students to explore a wide variety of different experimental situations much more rapidly than they could in the lab.
Quantum Barrier addresses the problem of insufficient lecture time to explore the quantum-mechanical model of electron tunneling in detail. Often only the final expressions for the reflection and transmission coefficients are presented. The expressions for the wave functions are not so easily visualized as those for the particle in a box, and the algebra needed to obtain them is extremely laborious. Given these obstacles, few students are likely to investigate the properties of the model on their own. By allowing the student to interactively discover the various properties of quantum barriers, this program opens a much wider range of experience and intuition.
Short but graphic, animated demonstrations can spice up any lecture. They are also useful for students to explore more fully on their own after a lecture is over. Mass Spectrometer will be useful when the ideas of separating isotopes and determining isotopic masses are presented. Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction allows students to see the basic components of an X-ray diffraction experiment and to envision how a beam of X-rays is diffracted by a crystal.
Hardware and Software Requirements
Programs in this issue of JCE: Software are designed for IBM PC/2, PC, or PC-compatible microcomputers with 640K of RAM and one floppy disk drive. VGA or compatible graphics and PC- or MS-DOS 3.1 or later are also required. (CGA and EGA graphics will not work.) A disk drive larger than 360K is recommended for KinWORKS.
First Published: December 1993
Citation: Moore, J. W.; Holmes, J. L. About This Issue J. Chem. Educ. Software 6B2
Keywords:

Editorial Commentary
Developing Insight and Intuition
 
John W. Moore

News | Issues | CD-ROM / Video | Find It! | Technical Support | For Authors

JCE Online | Journal | Software | Internet | Happenings | About JCE | Contact JCE

Last Updated: March 19, 2001
Created: December 10, 1996 Created by: J.L. Holmes
Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu

© 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.



Volume 6B Number 2

In This Issue

KinWORKS: A Learning Tool for Kinetics Lab
	Richard W. Ramette
Quantum Barrier
	David A. Lloyd
Animated Demonstrations II: Mass Spectrometer; Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction
	Philip I. Pavlik

About This Issue
John W. Moore and Jon L. Holmes University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1396

Note:	This issue is out of print.

Chemistry textbooks typically present kinetics problems of only a few types: a table of time and concentration data for a unimolecular reaction; a table of initial rates corresponding to a few different combinations of reactant concentrations; or a table of rate constants at two or more temperatures. Students are asked to deduce orders, rate constants, and activation energies. Such problems are of necessity, and preempt the student's grasp of what had to be done in the lab to obtain the numbers. KinWORKS provides an excellent alternative, allowing students to explore a wide variety of different experimental situations much more rapidly than they could in the lab. Quantum Barrier addresses the problem of insufficient lecture time to explore the quantum-mechanical model of electron tunneling in detail. Often only the final expressions for the reflection and transmission coefficients are presented. The expressions for the wave functions are not so easily visualized as those for the particle in a box, and the algebra needed to obtain them is extremely laborious. Given these obstacles, few students are likely to investigate the properties of the model on their own. By allowing the student to interactively discover the various properties of quantum barriers, this program opens a much wider range of experience and intuition. Short but graphic, animated demonstrations can spice up any lecture. They are also useful for students to explore more fully on their own after a lecture is over. Mass Spectrometer will be useful when the ideas of separating isotopes and determining isotopic masses are presented. Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction allows students to see the basic components of an X-ray diffraction experiment and to envision how a beam of X-rays is diffracted by a crystal. Hardware and Software Requirements Programs in this issue of JCE: Software are designed for IBM PC/2, PC, or PC-compatible microcomputers with 640K of RAM and one floppy disk drive. VGA or compatible graphics and PC- or MS-DOS 3.1 or later are also required. (CGA and EGA graphics will not work.) A disk drive larger than 360K is recommended for KinWORKS.


News \| Issues \| CD-ROM / Video \| Find It! \| Technical Support \| For Authors
JCE Online \| Journal \| Software \| Internet \| Happenings \| About JCE \| Contact JCE
Last Updated: March 19, 2001 Created: December 10, 1996	Created by: J.L. Holmes Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu

© 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.