JCE Online Journal of Chemical Education
 | Subscriptions  | Software Orders  | Support  | Contributors  | Advertisers  | 

JCE Print
   Current Issue
 Previous Issues
 Supplements
 Search JCE Index

JCE Digital Library
   DigiDemos
 QBank
 SymMath
 WebWare

JCE Software
   Latest Releases
 Software & Video
 Downloads
 Support

Only@JCE Online
   JCE Online Store
 JCE HS CLIC
 JCE Discussion Forums
   Biographical Snapshots
 ChemEd Resource Shelf
 Featured Molecules
 Hal's Picks
 Project Chemlab
 Reviewed WWW Sites
 "Web-Ed" Articles

About JCE
   Features
 Publications
 Operations
 Outreach
 Contact Us


  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1998  > September  >
Information • Textbooks • Media • Resources
JCE Online: Mathcad in the Chemistry Curriculum
Exploring the Morse Potential: MorsePotential.mcd
Theresa Julia Zielinski
Department of Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898
Cover
September 1998
Vol. 75 No. 9
p. 1191
Full Text
In many texts the Morse potential for a bond or a diatomic molecule is not shown with units and students often wonder how the author generated the plot from the equations given in the text. Students also have difficulty with the units used when computing molecular or atomic properties such as the potential energy of a diatomic molecule. The goal of the 'Exploring the Morse Potential' document is to provide hands on practice with the Morse potential energy function and the units used for calculating this potential. In the document is a step-by-step description of how to create the Morse potential function for HCl. Since units are used at every step, this document is an excellent showcase for the unit analysis power of Mathcad. The Mathcad unit handling feature makes the MorsePotential.mcd document a suitable device by which to emphasize the units used in atomic and molecular calculations. On the practical side, students can use this document to examine the behavior of the Morse potential as each parameter used to define this potential is varied. This allows students to develop a firm understanding about the relationship of each parameter to molecular properties such as bond length and dissociation energy. The document concludes with a series of exercises to reinforce student learning.
More Information
*  Citation
 Zielinski, Theresa Julia. J. Chem. Educ. 1998 75 1191.
*  Keywords
 physical chem, internet, quantum chem, teaching, learning aids
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 21, 1999
June 24, 2005
<< Previous Article Table of Contents Next Article >>
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1998  > September


Subscriptions
 Subscription Info
 Order Forms

JCE HS CLIC

Our Secondary School editors work hard to distill all the JCE materials to produce a fraction of particular interest to high school teachers. We call it CLIC.
 JCE HS CLIC

Contributions Welcome
JCE welcomes your submission
 Contributors' Corner

Advertisers
In recent years we have worked hard to better match our advertisers with our readers. When shopping for chemistry education materials, visit our advertisers' WWW sites first.
 Recent Advertisers

Be An Ambassador
Take JCE along on your outreach missions. Copies of the Journal, guest access to JCE Online, our publications catalog, and more are available for your participants.
 Outreach with JCE

Comments to
jceonline@chem.wisc.edu		 Copyright © Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society.
All rights reserved.