What's NEW at The Physics Classroom?
We've been at this task of providing students, teachers, and classrooms high-quality, ready-to-use resources for a long time. And we are as passionate about it now as we were 29 years ago when we started. We are always working on something new. But it is such a big website that the new additions often get nested deep inside of a section and are never noticed for months or even years after being published. So we're aiming to fix that problem with this page of announcements. Visit this page to find out about our most recent additions. And check back often in anticipation of finding new surprises.
February, 2025
February 21, 2025
Transverse Sine Wave Maker Simulation
We have a new interactive titled Transverse Sine Wave Maker. The interactive simulates the creation of a sine wave by an oscillator. The oscillator is a marker attached to a rotating turntable. The marker traces its motion on a piece of paper that moves perpendicular to the marker's movements. Three sliders allow the user to adjust the turntable's frequency, the marker's amplitude and the paper speed. You gotta check it out before your next Waves unit.
Friday Fix:
We made the following edits this week:
- Concept Builders: Charge Interactions: Thanks to some suggestions from a teacher, our Charge Interactions Concept Builder got an update. The observed interactions between objects appear on their own individual line as opposed to being stringed together in a paragraph. It's still a difficulty Concept Builder, but at least one of the difficulties has been eliminated.
- Calculator Pad: Problem EM6Q1 in our Electromagnetism section was incomplete; several sections did not have answer formulas. It has been fixed and the fixes are live.
- Calculator Pad: There were 55 problems that did not have a difficulty level associated with them. Thus, they would not appear in a search conducted by a teacher based on a difficulty level range. The problem has been fixed.
It's worth saying. We always appreciate your help. If you're a teacher and you see an error, then tap the Contacts link at the bottom of the page and file a report. Screenshots are appreciated. Thanks.
February 20, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Gas Stoichiometry at STP and Gas Stoichiometry at non-STP Conditions
February 19, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Stoichiometry Revisited
We have begun Lesson 3 on Gas Stoichiometry of our
Gases and Gas Laws Chapter. Our first page, titled
Stoichiometry Revisited, is out. The page coordinates an understanding of Avogadro's law to demonstrate that coefficients in front of gaseous reactants and products are volume ratios.
February 18, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Dalton's Law and Graham's Law
February 17, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Combined Gas Law
February 14, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Ideal Gas Law
Another day and another Tutorial page Our Tutorial page on the
Ideal Gas Law is now live. Besides the
PIVNERT equation, the page discusses molar volume and gas density.
Friday Fix:
We made the following edit:
- Science Reasoning Center: Stoichiometry Activity: There was an issue with all synthesis reactions in Activity 3. The table was formatted for a decomposition reaction ... and it just looked a little odd and bothersome. That has been fixed along with some other typographical issues in Activities 2 and 3. Version 1.1 has all the fixes.
It's worth saying. We always appreciate your help. If you're a teacher and you see an error, then tap the Contacts link at the bottom of the page and file a report. Screenshots are appreciated. Thanks.
February 13, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Volume and Number of Moles
February 12, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Pressure and Volume
February 11, 2025
Physics Interactives - The Four-Band Resistor
We have added a new interactive to our simulation section. This one turns out to be an awesome pattern-finding activity in which students attempt to discover the relationship between the colors of the first three bands and the resistance of the resistor. Be sure to use our
Cracking the Code student activity sheet.
February 10, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Volume and Temperature
February 7, 2025
NEW Chemistry Simulation: Dissolving a Salt
We have uploaded a new Chemistry simulation titled
Dissolving a Salt. The simulation shows a crystal of sodium chloride slowly undergoing dissolution. The hydration by water is shown as the H atoms surround the chloride ions and the O atoms surround the sodium ion and the crystal slowly disappear.
Physics Tutorial: Electromagnetism
Lesson 2 (Electromagnetism)'s first part is live! Get your Right-Hand's ready for a field-finding lesson that will get your currents flowing and magnetic fields generating!
Friday Fixes
We have made some edits about the site. Here's a few of the changes:
It's worth saying. We always appreciate the help. If you're a teacher and you see an error, then tap the Contacts link at the bottom of the page and file a report. Thanks.
February 6, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Pressure and Temperature
February 5, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Pressure-Volume-Temperature-Moles
February 4, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: The Nature of a Gas
February 3, 2025
Chemistry Tutorial: Gases and Gas Laws
The writing of the 10th Chapter of our
Chemistry Tutorial has officially started. The outline of topics for our newest chapter titled Gases and Gas Laws if now live.
January, 2025
January 31, 2025
Conceptual Physics Course Package
This past summer we put together
Lesson Plans and Pacing Guides and Pre-Built Task Tracker courses for three levels of Physics. In the process, we recognized a need to produce a set of materials to support teachers who are committed to a Conceptual-Physics styles course. This would include Physics First teachers and teachers who are in a school that offers a thrid level of Physics and teachers in schools who have come to recognize that the an algebra-emphasized Physics course is not meeting their students' needs. We are putting together a package of materials that we feel will suitably meet the needs of such teachers. We are currently on the 8th unit of 12 total units. We are calling it the Conceptual Physics Course Package. We will have much more to say about it as we approach the completion date. For now, we have updated information about the package that appears in the Conceptual Physics area of our
Lesson Plans and Pacing Guides section. Beginning this coming week, we will be taking a break from production to turn our focus back to the Chemistry Tutorial for another chapter of Chemistry. We still expect to have the project completed by April or May of 2025.
January 30, 2025
AI Powered Audio for Tutorial Pages
We have partnered with Trinity Audio to provide an Audio Player for our
Chemistry and
Physics Tutorial pages. The Audio Player sits at the top of each page. Tapping on the Play button allows the learner to listen to the page as opposed to reading it. The Audio Player works in English, Spanish, and several other languages.
January 28, 2025
Lesson Plans and Pacing Guides - Conceptual Physics
We have been very busy with the creation of our Conceptual Physics Course Package that coodinates with our Lesson Plans and Pacing Guides section of the website. The Conceptual Physics Course Package will be a downloable for-purchase package of content that will provide teachers of a conceptual physics styled course a considerable amount of useable content. We expect the package to be available in April, 2025. In the process of preparing the materials, we make changes in the Lesson Plans and Pacing Guides section of the website. Several pages (many with bad hyperlinks) were updated today.
January 24, 2025
Friday Fixes
We have done some more fixin' this week. (We probably else did some more mess'n but we'll figure that part out later.)
It's worth saying. We always appreciate the help. If you're a teacher and you see an error, then tap the Contacts link at the bottom of the page and file a report. Thanks.
January 22, 2025
Physics Tutorial - Magnetic Fields and Electromagnetism Chapter
We have been slowly putting together a new chapter to the Physics Tutorial on our site. The new chapter is the first of two chapters to be added on the topic of electromagnetism. This chapter will have four Lessons. We have recently completed Lesson 1 of the
Magnetic Fields and Electromagnetism Chapter. Lesson 2 is now underway.
January 21, 2025
Curriculum Corner: Chemical Reactions
Our latest unit from the
Curriculum Corner section of the website is now live. The topic is
Chemical Reactions and includes six Think Sheets that target student ability to identify various types of reactions, identify the products, and to write balanced chemical equations for such reactions.
January 17, 2025
Friday Fixes
We have made some edits about the site. Here's a few of the changes:
It's worth saying. We always appreciate the help. If you're a teacher and you see an error, then tap the Contacts link at the bottom of the page and file a report. Thanks.
January 16, 2025
NEW Physics Simulation - Collisions and Rotation
We have a new Physics simulation that models the conservation of linear and angular momentum. Run a quick trial, get results, perform calculations and analysis in a couple of minutes. Make some changes and repeat. Check it out
here.
January 15, 2025
Calculator Pad: Electric Field, Potential, and Capacitance with Calculus
Here's a new one! A collection of problem sets at the Calculator Pad that require the use of calculus to solve. There are six sets with a few multi-part problems in each set.
January 14, 2025
Curriculum Corner: The Mole and Its Applications
We've been working steadily on Chemistry curriculum for our Curriculum Corner section. We have added another unit on the topic of The Mole and Its Application. Our Curriculum Corner coordinates with our Chemistry Tutorial.
January 13, 2025
Chemistry Simulation - Average Atomic Mass
The Chemistry simulations have been rolling off the press. Our latest is on the topic of average atomic mass. A sample of 100 atoms of varying isotopes are displayed, then fed into Old Rickety (our very own, lovable mass spec). After a little shaking and wobbling, Old Rickety produces percent-mass data, and the rest is left to the student to calculate the average atomic mass. There are four levels with one question each. The first two levels include real elememts. The second two levels include extraterrestrial (fictional, non-Google-able) elements.
January 10, 2025
Concept Checker - Limiting Reactants
January 9, 2025
Chemistry Simulation - Limiting Reactants
We released another Chemistry simulation. This one is titled Limiting reactants and provides students an awesome opportunity to investigate the effect of both stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric conditions on the outcome of a reaction. Students can chose from among eight different reactions, modify the initial moles and reactants and products, and view ICE Tables and bar charts as the reaction proceeds. The
simulation is accompabied by a freely-downloadable
Student Activity Sheet (highly recommended).
January 8, 2025
Concept Checker - Electronegativity
Yesterday we released a
Electronegativity Simulation for the Chemistry area of our Interactives section. Today we have released an accompanying Concept Checker that coordinates with the freely-downloadable
Student Activity Sheet designed for the simulation. This is our third Chemistry Concept Checker. Expect more!
January 7, 2025
Chemistry Simulation - Electronegativity
We have a new Chemistry simulation for our Interactives section. It is titled Electronegativity and includes a collection of displays (location of bonding electrons, percent ionic character, dipole moment vectors, etc.) for students to understand the role that electronegativity plays in affecting the nature of a bond. There is a freely-downloadable
Student Activity Sheet to accompany the simulation.
January 6, 2025
Physics Tutorial - Magnetism and Electromagnetism Chapter
We have started the addition of a new chapter to the Physics Tutorial on our site. The new chapter is the first of two chapters to be added on the topic of electromagnetism. This chapter will have four Lessons. Lesson 1 has been started and the first two pages of four are now live on our site.
January 3, 2025
Curriculum Corner: Chemical Bonding and Molecular Shape
We've been working the past several months on some Chemistry curriculum for our Curriculum Corner section. We have just added another unit on the topic of Chemical Bonding. Our Curriculum Corner coordinates with our Chemistry Tutorial.
December, 2024
December 31, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 9: Stoichiometry
We have added the third and final page to Lesson 3 of
Chapter 9 of our
Chemistry Tutorial. The page was titled
Determining the Excess Amount and serves as a follow-up to Lesson 3b on Solving Limiting Reactant Problems. This completes our Chapter 9 of the Tutorial. That is nine very thorough chapters in a short 4.5 months. Chapter 10 is on the topic of Gases and is scheduled for release sometime in March of 2025. We have some other odds and ends to attend before resuming work on the Tutorial.
Chapter 9: Study Cards
We have added five more Study Cards to our Chapter 9 Tutorial. We link to Study Cards in the Before You Leave section of the page. Study Cards can be a very effective student aid. They are 1-page summaries of the Tutorial page.
December 30, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 9: Stoichiometry
We have added the first two of three pages to Lesson 3 of
Chapter 9 of our
Chemistry Tutorial. Our first page, Non-Stoichiometric Conditions, contrasts situations in which all reactants are used up to situations in which there are leftover reactants. Mathematical complexity is mild and an emphasis is placed on the concept of a limiting and excess reactant. Out second page,
Solving Limiting Reactant Problems, discusses and models how to solve a limiting reactant problem. We should have Lesson 3 finished tomorrow.
Chapter 9: Study Cards
We have added four study cards to our Chapter 9 Tutorial. Study Cards are downloadable review tools that synchronize with a Tutorial lesson. We link to Study Cards in the Before You Leave section of the page. We have five more Study Cards planned for Chapter 9.
Reference Section: Mole Island
We have uploaded several downloadable Mole Island graphic organizers to our
Reference area of the Chemistry Tutorial. Mole Island provides support to students as they think through and plan out a solution to a stoichiometry problem.
December 27, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 9: Stoichiometry
We have completed Lesson 2 of
Chapter 9 of our
Chemistry Tutorial. Our last page -
Stoichiometry Plus - discusses more difficult problems that add concepts (density, balancing equations, etc.) and conversions to a three-step, gram-to-gram stoichiometry problem. We are starting Lesson 3 today and should have it completed by the end of next week.
December 26, 2024
Inclined Plane Concept Checker
We released an
Inclined Plane simulation a couple of weeks ago and we published a
Student Activity Sheet about one week later. Now we have an
Inclined Plane Concept Checker. Concept Checkers are coordinated with a simulation and activity sheet and provide a great follow-up to the inclusion of the simulation in a lesson plan. Do the activity with the simulation, process it, and follow it up with a Concept Checker as an assessment of understanding.
December 23, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 9: Stoichiometry
December 20, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 9: Stoichiometry
We are making rapid progress on
Chapter 9 of our
Chemistry Tutorial. We have published two more pages. Lesson 1 is titled A Framework for Thinking Stoichiometrically; it is now complete with the publishing of
Conversions and Connections. This page describes the landscape surrounding a stoichiometry problem. The use of the factor label method and a graphic organizer known as Mole Island is introduced. Lesson 2 has been started up with the first page titled
Mole-to-Mole Relationships. Lesson 2 will include a multitude of different problem types with detailed solutions and discussions of how to approach a stoichiometry problem.
December 19, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 9: Stoichiometry
We have published our first two pages of
Chapter 9 of our
Chemistry Tutorial. The chapter pertains to the topic of stoichiometry. Lesson 1 is titled A Framework for Thinking Stoichiometrically. The lesson as a whole will construct the foundation for how to think about stoichiometric quantities such as mass and moles of reactants and products. Our first page is titled
Recipes, Ratios, and Relationships and discusses the role of ratios (mole ratios and molar mass ratios) in answering
how much questions. Our second page is titled
The Law of Conservation of Mass and devotes a lot of attention to analyzing data generated on the first page to establish that mass is conserved in a chemical reaction. We are likely to have our entire chapter complete by January 1 or shortly thereafter.
December 18, 2024
Student Activity Sheet and Concept Checker for Making An Ion Simulation
Our vision for our simulation pages is to provide a freely downloadable student activity sheet and an accompanying Concept Checker. Teachers can use the simulation in class with the help of the activity sheet. At the appropriate time, they can process the activity and then use the Concept Checker as a check for understanding. We published the
Making An Ion simulation yesterday. And now we have a
Student Activity Sheet and
Concept Checker available.
December 17, 2024
Chemistry Simulation: Making An Ion
Our collection of Chemistry Simulations has just increased by 1. Our
Making An Ion simulation models ion fomration for elements hydrogen through calcium. Students view the electrons occupying the electron shells and watch electrons being lost or gained as the ion is formed. It's a great activity for introducing ion formation with a visual impact. Special thanks to Physics and Chemistry teacher Chris Bruce (
Nerd Island Studios |
SimBucket) for creating this simulation for us.
December 16, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial: Chapter 8 is Completed
December 13, 2024
Inclined Plane Simulation - Student Activity Sheet
At the beginning of last week, we published an
Inclined Plane Simulation. We have released a
Student Activity Sheet for the simulation. These are freely downloadable activities that provide some guidance to students in terms of what to do, what to collect, and what to analyze.
Chapter 8 Study Cards for Chemistry Tutorial
We are generally delayed in the publication of Study Cards for our Chemistry Tutorial. But we always get around to them. Over the past couple of days we published Study Cards for the following pages. Study Cards are linked to in the
Before You Leave section of each page. Study Cards are now available for the following pages:
What is a Chemical Reaction? ||
Chemical Equations ||
Writing Balanced Chemical Equations ||
Lesson 2 Reaction Type pages
Study cards provide a succinct, highly graphical presentation of a topic. They are intended as tools that students can download and save and use for review purposes.
December 12, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial Page on Single Replacement Reactions
We are nearing completion of
Chapter 8 of our Chemistry Tutorial. Our third of five pages in Lesson 2 is now published.
Single Replacement Reactions discusses both cation replacement and anion replacement reactions. The metal and halogen reactivities are introduced and used to predict if a reaction will occur. There are numerous examples of predicting products and balancing equations. A Check Your Understanding section provides additional practice questions accompanied by answers and explanations.
December 11, 2024
Phase Changes Simulation: Student Activity Sheet and Concept Checker
December 10, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial Page on Combustion Reactions
Progress continues in Lesson 2 of
Chapter 8 of our Chemistry Tutorial. Our second of five pages, titled
Combustion Reactions, is now live. The focus is on how to recognize combustion reactions and to predict the products of such reactions. An emphasis is placed on analyzing hydrocarbon combustion reactions.
December 9, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial Page on Synthesis and Decomposition Reactions
We have begun the second lesson of two in
Chapter 8 of our Chemistry Tutorial. The page is titled
Synthesis and Decomposition Reactions. A thorough discussion of these two types of reactions is given. The emphasis is on cultivating the skill of predicting the products of the reaction and writing balanced chemical equations. There are several examples given that illustrate this skill.
December 6, 2024
Chemistry Simulation: Phase Change
We do not have a lot of Chemistry Simulations but we have 50% more this week than last week. You have to see our Phase Change simulation. You can make quick work of warming a sample of frigid ice to its melting point, melt it, warm the resulting liquid to its boiling point, boil it, and continue increasing the temperature of the gas until you blow the lid off the containers. Wish we could warm things up this quickly in our northern climate. Special thanks to Physics and Chemistry teacher Chris Bruce (
Nerd Island Studios |
SimBucket) for creating this simulation for us.
Friday Fix Day
We have a lot of edits out today and over the course of the week. Here they are:
December 5, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial Page on Writing Balanced Chemical Equations
We have published our third page in
Chapter 8 of our Chemistry Tutorial. The page is titled
Writing Balanced Chemical Equations. The page discusses mass conservation, provides a method for balancing chemical equations, and demonstrates the use of the method with seven examples. Each example has detailed solutions. The Check Your Understanding section includes six additional balancing equation practice questions, along with several other conceptual questions. Our Before You Leave section includes a link to our Balancing Chemical Equations Concept Builder. This page completes the first lesson of two lessons in the chapter.
December 4, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial Page on Chemical Equations
We have published our second page in
Chapter 8 of our Chemistry Tutorial. The page is titled
Chemical Equations and focuses on the use of several representations - word equations, particle diagrams, and balanced chemical equations - to represent a chemical reaction. We expect to be finishing up our first of two lessons tomorrow.
December 3, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 8: Chemical Reactions
Chapter 8 of our Tutorial is now started. Our first page on the topic of
What is a Chemical Reaction? is now live. The page focuses on the concept of chemical reactions involving a rearrangement of atoms. Emphasis is given to the energy associated with bond breaking and bond forming. The evidences of a chemical reaction are discussed. Two reactions - synthesis of water and combustion of methane - are used to demonstrate concepts.
December 2, 2024
Chapter 7 Study Cards
December 1, 2024
Inclined Plane Simulation
We have a new interactive titled Inclined Plane. The interactive simulates the motion of an object along an inclined plane. There are a variety of variables that can be altered and output displays that can be toggled on and off. We anticipate heavy usage of this simulation and hope to put together a student activity sheet and Concept Checker to support classroom teachers who are designing lesson plans around the activity. Thanks to Physics teacher Martin Kirby for contributing this simulation to our collection.
November, 2024
November 29, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Chapter 7 is Complete!
The seventh chapter of our Chemistry Tutorial is now complete. Lesson 2d on the topic of
Empirical and Molecular Formulae is now live. We have been planning Chapter 8 on the topic of Chemical Reactions. The
Table of Contents for Chapter 8 is also live. The first pages should start coming out by mid-week of this coming week.
November 27, 2024
We were fortunate enough to squeeze two Tutorial pages up on the site before Thanksgiving.
Chemistry Tutorial - Grams-Moles-Particles Relationship
A thorough discussion of mole conversions with seven examples, six practice problems with answers and complete solutions, and links to locations (Concept Builders and CalcPad problem sets) with additional practice. You can't beat this!!
Chemistry Tutorial - Percent Composition
A step-by-step demonstration of how to calculate the percent composition of elements in a compound. Includes three examples of varying difficulty, three practice problems with answers and complete solutions, and links to three Problem Sets at the Calculator Pad for additional, interactive practice. You can't beat this either!!
Bug Fixes / Tweaks
Fixed some Inline PDFs were not rendering properly.
Fixed bug where CalcPad assignments with custom Assignment Names were not showing on Task List with the Custom Name.
Fixed Ad styling bug that would cause Ads to sometimes extend the page beyond normal width.
November 26, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Molar Mass of Compounds
We have started Lesson 2 of
Chapter 7. The focus will be on an mathematical analysis of compounds. The first page is on the topic of molar mass and the skill of calculating it. There are numerous exmples and links to more interactive pratice - a Concept Builder and Calculator Pad problem sets. We should be done with Lesson 2 by week's end.
November 25, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Grams-Moles-Atoms Relationship
We have just completed Lesson 1 of Chapter 7 -
The Mole and Its Applications - is complete. Our latest page -
Grams-Moles-Atoms Relationship - goes to great length discussing the use of Avogadro's number and molar mass with the factor label method to solve six types of problems. There are eight exmples in all and links to more at our Calculator Pad.
November 22, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - The Mole
The third page of Lesson 1 in our new chapter -
The Mole and Its Applications - is complete.
Lesson 1c is now live. The page discusses Avogadro's number and its significance as a supersizing factor from amu to grams. The concept of molar mass is also discussed. And don't miss the mole jokes.
November 21, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Measuring Atomic Mass
The second page of Lesson 1 in our new chapter -
The Mole and Its Applications - is complete.
Lesson 1b is now live. It pertains to the use of atomic mass spectroscopy to determine the average atomic mass of an element.
November 20, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Atomic Mass
Solutions Guide Fix - ansvect4
An error was reported on the ansvect4.docx and ansvect4.pdf solutions (Version2Docs\VectorsProjectiles) guide for the Vector Addition by Components Worksheet. The issue was on #1 for the 2nd and 3rd magnitude and resultants, the incorrect CCW angle was provided. These have been corrected. Future downloads will have this fix, if you wish to just retrieve the 2 updated files, please use the
contact form and I'll send them to you.
November 15, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Ionic Compounds
November 14, 2024
Curriculum Corner - Chemistry Think Sheets
We have added a fifth chapter to the Chemistry section of our Curriculum Corner. The chapter is titled The Modern Atomic Model. Five chapters are done. Many more to go ... but we may have have it completed this school year.
November 13, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Lesson 3 Study Cards
We have completed all our Check Your Understanding sections in Lesson 3 and uploaded four study cards, one for each page of Lesson 4. Study cards are a downloadable graphic organizer that students can use to support their studies. We have completed the following study cards:
Links to study cards can be found on the above page in the
Before Your Leave section near the bottom of the page.
November 12, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Hybridized Orbital Theory
We have completed our tutorial page on hybridized orbitals. We are nearing the end of the chapter and should be done by the end of the week with all pages, all edits, Check Your Understanding sections, and Study Cards.
November 11, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Molecular Polarity
We have completed our tutorial page on molecular polarity. There is a strong graphical presentation and reliance upon electron dot diagrams and molecular geometry. There's a great set of practice questions in the Check Your Understanding section. We should have some Lesson 3 Study Cards coming out mid-week.
November 8, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Advanced VSEPR (with lone pairs)
Our second of two pages in Lesson 3 on the topic of
Advanced VSEPR is now published. The focus of this page is how the number of bonded atoms and lone pairs affect the molecular geometry. There are a load of graphics and visualizations.
November 7, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Valence Shell Electron Pair Replulsion Theory (VSEPR)
Our first of two pages in Lesson 3 on the topic of
Valence Shell Electron Pair Replulsion Theory (VSEPR) is now live. The focus of the page is on how the groups of electrons surrounding the central atom spread out in space to assume a particular electron pair geometry. All situations being analyzed include no lone paris on the central atom. Our second page will focus on molecular shape and situations with lone pairs. This page (and our next one) are full of graphics. Check it out!
November 6, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Formal Charge Considerations
Our last page of Lesson 2 of our
Chemical Bonding and Molecular Shape unit is now live. The page, titled
Formal Charge Considerations, discusses a strategy for evaluating competing Lewis electron dot diagrams. The page includes a clear presentation of what formal charge is, how to calculate it, and how to use such calculations in order to evaluate Lewis electron dot diagrams. There are numerous examples that are thoroughly discussed and there are more practice questions in the Check Your Understanding section that have answers and explanations. A Study Card is available for students to download and use as a follow-up study tool. Links to Study Cards (when available) can be found in the Before You Leave section of the page (at end of page). Formal charge is generally regarded as an honors-level or AP topic; we include such topics on separate pages. Teachers using the Tutorial with on-level students can simply not assign such pages; other pages can be used independent of this one.
November 5, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Octet Breakers
Our 3rd of three pages on drawing Lewis electron dot diagrams has been published. The page, titled
Octet Breakers, discusses situations in which the central atom of molecules exceeds the octet rule. Several dot diagrams for expanded octes are given. Boron compounds are also discussed. Some additional examples have been left for the Check Your Understanding section. A Study Card is available for this lesson.
November 4, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Double and Triple Bonds
Our 2nd of three pages on drawing Lewis electron dot diagrams is now live. The page, titled
Double and Triple Bonds, describes when to and how to go about drawing Lewis diagrams for situations involving double and triple bonds. There are 11 examples with thoroughly worked out diagrams that step through the process.
November 1, 2024
Chemistry Tutorial - Lewis Electron Dot Diagrams
We have completed our first of three pages on
Lewis Electron Dot Diagrams. For a student trying to figure out Lewis electron dot diagrams, this page is going to help. It's loaded with logic, details, examples, tips, and practice. Our second and third page on the topic will pertain to more complicated cases - multiple bonds and octet rule breakers.
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