An Introduction to Chemistry Shockwave Animations

The Structure of Matter: a Shockwave animation on Kinetic Molecular Theory. This is a good introduction to the topic appropriate for a general chemistry student (or AP high school). The animations are good with good navigation and explanations, however the speed of the liquid animation in quite rapid.

Element Properties: a Shockwave animation on the structure of some elements. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. The animation of the gases (Ne and oxygen) are fine, however the speed of the animation of the liquid, bromine is too rapid to clearly distinguish individual molecules. There is good use of interactive questions to engaged the user. This is a good introduction to physical properties and structure of elements appropriate for the target audience of general chemistry students.

The Structure of Water: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. There are good animations of the gas phase with nice explanations and good use of interactive questions for the user (tying in the concepts of partial atomic charges, kinetic theory of molecules). The hydrogen bond should be drawn more clearly indicating the relative orientation of the O-H---O atoms. Also the structure of the solid water could be shown more clearly as a regular crystal lattice, and perhaps a lower amplitude of motion of the water molecules. Overall this is a good animation, useful for general chemistry students.

Dissolving NaCl: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. This is a good animation of the dissolving of NaCl in water, explaining the process at a molecular level. The only concern is that the animations are very crowded due to the large number of water molecules, Na and Cl ions present which makes it difficult to see what is happening at times. There is a "repeat" button which allows the animation to be rerun multiple times which helps solve this problem. Overall this is a good resource for general chemistry students.

Precipitation: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. Overall this is a nice animation. There are two concerns, first, the location of the charges for the polyatomic ions, carbonate and nitrate. In both cases the charge is labeled on the wrong atom (C and N respectively). Although this makes the ions easy to see (and label) it is incorrect. Second the speed of the animation is fairly rapid at times, but a repeat button allows them to be replayed as often as needed. Again the animations are very crowded due to large number of water molecules and ions. The ions are generally highlighted by lime green circles so are fairly easy to see. Overall this is a good animation of the precipitation reaction. The charges should be fixed if used for science students as this may lead to misconceptions on the location of formal charges in polyatomic ions.

Acids: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. The H3O+ needs to be redrawn so it clearly has 3 H atoms. Again the animations are rapid and very crowded by large number of water molecules which make it difficult to see at times. The charge on acetate is incorrectly labeled on a C atom not an O which needs to be fixed. There are good graphics for the dissociation of a strong and weak acid which help demonstrate the difference in the amount of dissociation. Overall this is a good animation, but the charges need to be fixed if used for science majors as it is misleading.

Single Displacement Reactions: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. The charges on sulfate are incorrectly indicated on the S atom. The animations are much slower and very easy to see what is happening even with the large number of water molecules. Again the charges on the sulfate need to be fixed for use by science majors, otherwise this is a good animation.

Acid-Base Reactions: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. Again there is a problem with the H3O+ molecule not clearly having 3 H atoms. Again the NO3- ion incorrectly has the charge on the N atom not the O. Again the animation of the aqueous phase is very fast and is very crowded due to large numbers of water molecules. This makes it difficult to see the interactions between ions. The charges should be fixed for use by science majors, otherwise this is a useful animation.

Boyle's Law: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. A good resources for general chemistry students.

Gay-Lussac's Law: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. A good resources for general chemistry students.

Charles's Law: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. Although it was not apparent there was an increase in the particle velocity, this is a good resources for general chemistry students.

Pressure-Moles: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. A good resources for general chemistry students.

Avogadro's Law: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. A good resources for general chemistry students.

Mixing Ethanol and Water: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. The final animation showing the mixing process is so rapid it is impossible to see any single molecule. The animation should be slowed down considerably to allow the user to see what is happening. However, this is still a good resource for general chemistry students.

Solubility: a Shockwave animation. The navigation and explanations are clear and easy to understand. This is largely a repeat of the Mixing of Ethanol and Water, and Dissolving of NaCl animations viewed from the Thermodynamics aspect. There are additional sections on the solubility of water in hexane, pentane in hexane, and NaCl in hexane. This is a good overview of solubility tying together ideas on intermolecular forces and thermodynamics. Again the animations are very fast and it is difficult to see what happens to any single molecule. It would be nice if these were slowed down. It is however a good resource for general chemistry students.

Is the software properly documented? Yes. Does the material tell you how to apply and use it? No. Did you encounter any specific problems using the resource? Yes. Is the resource usable without changes or can you suggest were changes should be made to improve this resource? Yes.