Links for Chemistry & Society topics

The links in this page are supplementary material to the topics we are studying. Included are: (1) historical sketches, (2) different (more visuals and animation) ways of presenting the basic material, and (3) extended information on some of the chemical applications.

Note: The links to these sites often have other topics included in our syllabi so do browse them if you find them useful/helpful.

Please e-mail me if you find any broken links.

Chemistry in General
ChemTeam covers the standard topics.
General Chemistry Online at Frostburg State.
Chem1 Virtual Textbook by Stephen Lower at Simon Fraser.

Matter and Atomic Structure
Early Greek Philosophy by James Fieser about the nature of matter and more. (I suggest reading sections B, E and F.)
Alchemy in History by Kirk Straughen is a short synopsis on the quest for the philosopher's stone and its connection to the modern theory of matter.
1897 Discovery of the electron from the American Institute of Physics covers J.J. Thomson and his discovery of the electron.
The Rutherford Experiment interactive Java applet at FSU. Very cool!

Nuclear Chemistry
Discovery of Radioactivity by Slowiczek and Peters at the Access Excellence Classic Collection has a brief introduction to nuclear chemistry and short biographies of the scientists involved.
Physics Zone Lessons on Nuclear Physics by Science Joy Wagon has an excellent visual and animated interoduction to nuclear physics.
Nuclear stuff at Hyperphysics has short blurbs on everything nuclear: radioactivity, decay paths, fission and fusion, and more. In particular, click on the Nuclear Energy balloon to read more about energy, nuclear reactors and what caused the Three Mile Island disaster.
Radioisotopes in Medicine from the Uranium Information Centre in Melbourne has a listing and summary of common medical usage of radioisotopes.
Radiometric Dating: A Christian Perspective by Roger Wiens gives an excellent and detailed presentation of the ins and outs of radiometric dating. It covers K/Ar, Rb/Sr, carbon dating and more.

Electronic Structure
Spectral lines and the Bohr model as explained interactively in Physics2000 at the University of Colorado. The Table of Contents has many other topics that relate to quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and the atom.
Electromagnetic Spectrum presented by the NASA Imagine Team.
Development of the Periodic Table (A brief history) at Western Oregon University summarizes the major scientists involved in bringing us the Periodic Table.
Periodic Table on WebElements is a well-maintained site by Mark Winter that allows you to click on each element and find out much, much more about it. An excellent resource!

Chemical Bonding
Ionic and Covalent Bonds with Lewis Dot structures and examples from Doc Brown's page.
Molecular Modelling by Cerpovicz et al. covers Lewis Dot structures, Formal Charges, VSEPR theory and Intermolecular Forces with simple visuals. The VSEPR section has nice pictures that correlate to molecular shape.
Linus Pauling: The Nature of the Chemical Bond, a brief historical sketch by Stephen Mason, King's College, London. Pauling combined the concepts of G.N. Lewis (who introduced Lewis Dot structures) with quantum mechanical concepts leading to the modern view of chemical bonds.

Gases, Liquids, Solids
Matter in Bulk from The Wired Chemistry has nice models/pictures of different types of solids (ionic, molecular, metallic) and even the three allotropes of carbon: diamond, graphite and fullerene.
Gases, Liquids, and Solids from GenChem help at Purdue has a quick summary page of the characteristics of gases, liquids and solids. They also have pictorial definitions for  Elements, Compounds and Mixtures.
Animations from LSU. Excellent visual site! I strongly recommend Changes of State, Dissolution of NaCl, for this section. For other topics, good ones include Aqueous Acids and Bases, Titration, Rutherford Experiment, Redox I, Kinetic Energy of Gases.
Water and Ice from NYU has water, water dimer, liquid water, and ice.

Chemical Equations and Reactions
The Mole by ChemTeam explains the mole, how to calculate moles and masses, and includes miscellanous material such as the origin of the word "mole".
Balancing Chemical Equations (by New Traditions Project, University of Wisconsin-Madison) uses a simple pictorial molecular approach to learning how to balance equations. Note that the exercises use individual molecules, while chemical equations that we write typically refer to mole quantities of molecules.
Chemical Jigsaw is an alternative interesting way to learn about how to balance chemical reactions. Even has printable page and instructions for you to cut out your own jigsaw pieces.
Introduction to Chemical Equilibrium explains equilibrium and reversible reactions. Once a reaction has reached equilibrium, the system can adjust itself according to Le Chatelier's Principle.
Dynamic Equilibrium animation from the MolSci Project at UCLA.

Acids and Bases
Acids and Bases at Purdue University has a review on the topic with pictures and many examples.
Acid Rain by Casiday & Frey at Washington University discuss the pollutants, their concentration and their chemical reactions to form acids.

Oxidation and Reduction (Redox) Reactions
Redox Reactions and Electrochemical Potential from Oxford has some nice animations and explanations (covers more detail than needed for this class).
Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell from the SERC at Humboldt includes an illustration and an animation of how it works.

Introduction to Organic Chemistry: Hydrocarbons
Nomenclature of Organic compounds from Robert Wiley covers the alkanes and how to name them. An explanation of isomerism with good examples is also available at the same site.
NIST Chemistry WebBook is useful for searching for small molecules and their properties. Go to Search Options and search by name or chemical formula.
Chem Helper courtesy of Frostburg university has summaries, tutorials, suggestions, and even practice tests for Organic Chemistry.
Molecule of the Month at University of Oxford. Check out the chemical structure of all those everyday molecules you might encounter.

Polymers
Macrogalleria: Everything you want to know about polymers. This full-of-info site, arranged like a shopping mall, comes from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Biological molecules
Protein Explorer front door at SDSC has many, many macromolecules that are important in biological systems. View any protein you like!
The twenty amino acids at Institute of Chemistry, FU-Berlin.
Introduction to Nucleic Acids at NDB, Rutgers.
Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis. A slide show at University of Akron.



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