Developed by Brian Reid and Nancy Lowmaster (breid@alleg.edu), Chemistry Department, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA 16335.
Category: Chemistry
Students can learn how to determine the molecular structures and electron pair geometries of compounds using VSEPR (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory). For a compound randomly chosen from a set of 45 examples, a student must select the pictures of and provide the names for the proper molecular geometry and electron pair geometry. The student also selects the proper polarity of the molecule. To determine these items, the application provides several tools: a periodic table, a valence electron calculator, and a Lewis structure drawing pad. The application indicates what parts of the student's response are correct and incorrect. The application also keeps a record of the session that can be printed for later study. A brief discussion of the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory is available in a separate panel.
VSEPR is used in the introductory chemistry courses at Allegheny College.
This application was developed under NeXTstep release 2.2.
In the VSEPR.app folder is the file compounds.dat that provides the information for the compound geometries used in the application. This file can be easily modified to suit an instructor's needs. The format of the data for each example has one line with the following parameters:
