Three new chemistry Gizmos have arrived!

As part of our goal of 40 new Gizmos, we are pleased to announce the addition of three new chemistry Gizmos to our library. Ionic Bonds is a companion to the Covalent Bonds Gizmo released last week. By manipulating the valence electrons of metal and nonmetal atoms, students will see how ions are formed and will determine the chemical formulas for a variety of compounds.

Just the word "stoichiometry" can strike fear in students' hearts, even if they have no idea what it is about. With the release of our Stoichiometry Gizmo, there is a lot less to fear for both students and teachers. By handling all the calculation, the Gizmo allows students to focus on the main concepts--how one unit is converted to another, and how units are cancelled to arrive at an answer. A multitude of interactive practice problems will allow students to gain confidence in this often-intimidating branch of chemistry.

Last but not least, the Bohr Model: Introduction Gizmo highlights one of the turning points of modern chemistry. In 1913, Niels Bohr proposed that electrons orbit the nucleus only at specific energy levels. Not only did Bohr's model lead to an understanding of chemical bonding and the structure of the periodic table, but it was a key to the development of quantum theory--often considered one of the most successful theories in science. In the Gizmo, students can see for themselves how an electron responds to certain photons of light with a "quantum leap."

Chemistry is a great field for computer simulations because so much is happening at the atomic level, invisible to the naked eye. In the last two months we have added nine new chemistry Gizmos, and two more will be completed next week. We are proud of the progress we have made in this area, and hope you feel the same way!