Chemical Excelets:  Interactive Excel Spreadsheets
for General Chemistry

These interactive spreadsheets (aka - simulations) are used in-class and as out-of-class projects.  Through the use of numerical experimentation and "what if" scenarios, we have a powerful discovery learning tool for students using readily available off-the-shelf software.  For a discussion on using Excelets, see Chemical Spreadsheet Investigations:  Empowering Student Learning of Concepts via Camouflaged Mathematical Exploration.

How do I interact with the spreadsheet?
The interactivity on the spreadsheets occurs as cells with a yellow background, where the number can be entered by typing in a value, or sliders, where one can drag the center bar or click on the terminal arrows, are changed.  Likewise, the spinner works by clicking on the arrows.  You may also see check boxes or option buttons which perform the indicated task.  A response will occur on the graph and/or data by adjusting any of these items.  List boxes are also used to select information.  Comment cells (red triangle in upper right corner) are used to deliver information as well.

The Collection
Here are a variety of Excelets (hold the cursor over the link for a brief description) and some pdf handouts for topics in General Chemistry, including the laboratory.  Some of these are simple calculation aids, while others explore concepts by bringing the mathematics alive.  A number of the more recent Excelets, marked with an * consider the influence of random and/or systematic error.  (Note - In Excel, you may need to resize these spreadsheets to fit your screen by going to View on the menu bar and selecting Zoom.)

Excelets (Javaless Applets)
(For best results - right click and then select Save Target As... to download, then open directly in Excel)
The Temperature Scales on Thermometers: How are they related?   (handout) Interactive Periodic Trends  (handout)  (prelab)
Bond Energy Calculator   (handout) Dissolving an ionic compound - endothermic or exothermic process?
Welcome to the Calorie Calculator Potential Energy Diagram   (handout)
The Ideal Gas Law*  (handout) Arrhenius Equation
P-V II - The Tubing Error* Initial Rates
Boyle's Law Simulator*  (article)
(article describes error analysis)		 How is the rate influenced when you double the concentration for a variety of orders?
P-V-T Surface Plot How do the coefficients in the reaction influence the rate?
Velocity of Gas Particles Chemical Kinetics Simulator  (handout)
DNA and Thermal Denaturation An Interactive Graphical Approach to Chemical Kinetics
Mixing Colored Solutions - How does the absorption spectrum behave? Chemical Equilibrium: The Kinetics of Reversible Reactions
 Spectrophotometric Determination of an Acid-Base Indicator Constant* Examining the Formation of a Complex Ion: Ag(NH3)2+
What is an autocatalyzed reaction? Kinetics of Optical Isomer Conversion   (handout)
Exploring an Oscillating Chemical Reaction Kinetics of Multi-step Reactions   (handout)
Scatter Plot for measurement variation PE Diagrams for Consecutive and Competing Reactions
Quadratic Equation root finder and graph Homogeneous Catalysis
The Basics of Spectrophotometric Measurements The Le Chatelier Meter
Beer's Law Simulator   (handout) The Behavior of Weak Acids
Single-point Calibration and Its Error Calculating the pH of the strong acids
Beer's Law Simulator II:  Exploring Errors*
(handout)		  The Five Percent Rule
 Bromocresol Green ICE Chart Calculations for Acid-Base Equilibria
Vapor Pressure Curve of Water Chlorination of Natural Waters
When are dissolved oxygen levels in natural water higher? Discovering Buffers
What happens to the vapor pressure of a solvent as solute is added? Reacting a strong acid or base with a buffer
Exploring Osmotic Pressure Buffer Selection
Predicting if a Chemical Reaction is Spontaneous Behavior of Weak Acids Using Distribution Diagrams   (handout for monoprotic acids)
Discovering Faraday's Law of Electrolysis Buffer Capacity
Comparison of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Methods What is an isotope?
Energy Profiles for Internal Rotation The Chemical Elements and Their Stable Isotopes
Fe(SCN)++ equilibrium constant  (experiment) Exploring Radioactive Decay Kinetics*   (handout)
Estimating the Wave Number (Energy) of IR Stretching Vibrations   (experiment) Effective Half-life
Exploring Error in the Water Hardness Determination  by EDTA Titration* (experiment)  The Kinetics of Enzyme Reactions*
Enzyme Kinetics (simple intro.)  The Kinetics of Enzyme Reactions II:  Exploring Enzymes with Multiple Subunits and Reactive Sites

For information on designing Excelets and links to mathematical modeling of data support materials, see Developer's Guide to Excelets.  For more Excelets in materials science, see the MatSci Excelets page.

Other good sites for chemists:

Interactive Spreadsheet Demonstrations for Introductory, Inorganic, Analytical, and Physical Chemistry

Spreadsheet Simulations for Analytical and Physical Chemistry

Interactive Spreadsheets in JCE WebWare

Please e-mail any corrections, modifications, suggestions, or questions.

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Scott A. Sinex        Prince George’s Community College       8/2008