Atomsmith Rocks! is our blog about all things Atomsmith.

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Atomsmith Rocks! is our blog about all things Atomsmith.&nbsp;In this blog, we will publish product announcements, as well as informative posts about innovative ways to use Atomsmith to teach chemistry.

Atomsmith Rocks!

Posts that announce new features, activities, and other updates in Atomsmith.

Announcements

If London Dispersion Forces (LDF) worked the way that they are often taught, there would not be anyone around to actually teach them. Not only that – the LDFs that we currently teach fail even to correctly explain the boiling points of the structural isomers of pentane.

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How London Dispersion Forces Really Work: Eighty-seven years later, Fritz London would like a word with us.

Posts that take a deeper look into chemistry education topics.

DeeperLooks

As a science educator, you understand how important it is for students to recognize and practice the skill of critical thinking. Here's an opportunity for a timely debate. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently decided to NOT regulate levels of perchlorate (ClO4-) in drinking water. Its ionic compounds are believed contaminants, some of which can also be found in our foods. Not surprisingly, this EPA decision was met with consternation from some and positive approval from others.

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<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitwixt.com/blog/common/NewsLogo_600.png" alt="Bitwixt News">Greetings Atomsmith Online User!As a science educator, you understand how important it is for students to recognize and practice the skill of critical thinking. Here's an opportunity for a timely debate. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently decided to NOT regulate levels of perchlorate (ClO4-) in drinking water. Its ionic compounds are believed contaminants, some of which can also be found in our foods. Not surprisingly, this EPA decision was met with consternation from some and positive approval from others.Check out the News article:Tools &gt;&gt; News About Atoms and Molecules &gt;&gt; 01 April, 2022 AP NewsAmmonium perchlorate, a perchlorate compound that is used in rocket fuel, can be quickly displayed from the Teachers tab in the Molecule Builder (or your students can build it themselves!). This tab also displays the ionic compound's pre-built Lewis structure model, showing perchlorate's expanded octet and the (blue) valence electron transferred from nitrogen.Beyond this brief introduction of the chemistry and the controversy, there is a large amount of additional information readily available via an internet search on the regulatory topic, and your class could have a lively debate surrounding the pros and cons of the evidence.<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitwixt.com/blog/earth-day-post/earth-day-postThumb.png" alt="Perchlorate">As a reminder, if you haven't already checked it out, we have enhanced the Molecule Builder. It now features a Teachers tab to provide you with quick access to pre-built Lewis structure models when lecturing. (This feature is not available to students.)Use these models to quickly demonstrate multiple topics:<ul><li>Common Lewis structure (2D) models and their VSEPR shapes (3D)</li><li>Transfer electrons among atoms to illustrate resonance structures</li><li>The link between filled octets and the charges on monatomic and polyatomic ions</li><li>The link between filled octets and the stoichiometry of ionic compounds</li><li>Starting with acid/base/water Lewis structure models, transfer electrons to illustrate acid-base reactions</li></ul>** To ensure that you are running the latest version of Atomsmith Classroom Online, clear your browser's cache/cookies/history and refresh the Atomsmith Classroom Online sign-in page.Thanks, and please let us know if you have any questions or feedback (<a href="mailto:info@bitwixt.com">info@bitwixt.com</a>. And help us keep our prices low -- spread the word by telling your colleagues about <a href="http://www.bitwixt.com/jsite/atomsmith-online">Atomsmith Online!</a><hr>Bitwixt News&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bitwixt Software Systems LLC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="mailto:news@bitwixt.com">news@bitwixt.com</a>If you would prefer not to receive informational emails such as this from Bitwixt Software Systems, please reply to this email with "Remove" in the Subject line.

Earth Day 2022 Activites.

We regularly interact with chemistry teachers, and always with an eye to identifying their pain points – concepts that they struggle to teach and their students struggle to grasp. With these pain points in mind, we look for ways to use <a href="https://bitwixt.com/atomsmith-online/about">Atomsmith</a> to help resolve these frustrations.&nbsp;It would be difficult to think of a topic of frustration that comes up more often than chemical vs. physical change. Much of this frustration stems from how this concept is taught at introductory levels. In this post, we take a fresh look at the subject by looking at it through an 83 year-old lens.

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Chemical vs. Physical Change: Linus Pauling Taught Us All That We Need to Know

What’s missing in how we teach IMFs are any descriptors that address what holds the particles together… and how they let go. These are, of course, the attractive forces between the particles and the details of how these forces are overcome at different temperatures.One could, of course, simply draw vectors between the particles to indicate these forces. But, as you’ll soon see, the story is more complicated and static drawings simply aren’t up to the task. What if you could simply show these interactions to your students (or better yet, let them do the experiment themselves) and let them deduce, for themselves, how they work and how they lead to different states of matter?You can.

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States of Matter: You talk about this stuff like you read it in a book.

Lewis Structures are not just sets of rules to be memorized. And they are much more than just ”Step One“ of VSEPR. With Atomsmith's Molecule Builder, your students will build and interact with Lewis structures, rather than just writing them. Interacting with these models will lead them to more deeply comprehend ionic and covalent bonding. And they will be able to answer many of their own common questions, such as “where do the charges on polyatomic ions come from?”&nbsp;

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To understand chemistry, students need to investigate matter at the particle level.

Atomsmith^® models make that happen.

To understand chemistry, students need to investigate matter at the particle level.

Atomsmith® models make that happen.

Atomsmith^® models make that happen.