MatSci Excelets:  Interactive Excel Spreadsheets
for Materials Science

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 - work in progress/many in draft form
Here are a variety of Excelets (hold the cursor over the link for a brief description) and some pdf handouts for topics in Materials Science.  Some of these are simple calculation aids, while others explore concepts by bringing the mathematics alive.  (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)
Imperfections in Metallic Solids	Vibrations in Metallic Solids
Conductor, Semiconductor, or Insulator?	Homogeneous Nucleation
Does grain size matter when stress is applied?	Fraction Crystallized and the Avrami Equation
Bonding in Sodium Chloride Crystals	Packing of Metals
I-V Curves for Materials	Diffusion in Metals
Using Radius Ratio Rules to Predict the Crystal Structure	Exploring the Periodic Table:  Metal - Nonmetal Comparison
Thermal Expansion	Three-point Load Test for Fracturing Ceramics
Metals and Corrosion	The Interaction of Electromagnetic Radiation and Solid Matter
X-rays and the Crystalline State of Matter	Carbon Nanotubes (web-based activity)
	Band Gap Behavior in Carbon Nanotubes

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

Other good sites for materials science:

Spreadsheet Applications for Materials Science (SAMS) (new URL!!!)

This work is supported by the Howard/Hopkins/PGCC Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM), which is funded by NSF Grant No. DMR-0611595.

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

Scott A. Sinex        Prince George’s Community College       10/2008