Topics in Physics and Chemistry

Synopsis

Nine activities designed as science learning resources: 1) Chemical Periodicity: examines what is meant by the concept, using on-screen experiemnts to llustrate how it can be used to predict the properties of chemical elements. Shows how to construct a complete periodic table; 2) Surveying the Peiodic Table: shows how the periodic table divides into four smaller blocks of elements and how the blocks fit together to produce a periodicity in the distriution of metals, semi-metals and non-metals that extends over the whole table; 3) Balancing Equations: explains the terminology used in chemical equations and shows how to balance a set of simple equations.
4) Electrons in Atoms: invesgates the quantum world of atoms, comparing and contrasting energy-level diagrams, and spectra and electron probability clouds of the hydrogen, helium and lithium ions. Also shows how these properties depend on the atomic number of the atom or ion; 5) Nucleons in Nuclei: demonstrates which nuclei exist, which are stable and which are unstable, and how unstable nuclei decay. Includes a database of properties of all the possible nuclei; 6) Quarks: investigates two types of actions involving quarks, using a ‘virtual particle accelerator’ to discover the rules underlying such interactions and a ‘quark fruit machine’ to build hadrons from quarks.
7) Chemical Periodicity and Electron Structure: investigates the link between the electron configurations of atoms and the periodic table. Shows how the correct procedure for writing electron configurations and the use of electron structure to explain chemical periodicity can be developed together in a mutually supportive way; 8) Chemical Equilibrium: introduces the concept of equilibrium in chemical reactions, exploring how changing reaction conditions lead to changes in the mixture of chemicals present at equilbrium; 9) Organic Molecules: examines the shapes of molecules, visualises three-dimensional models, and predicts reactions by indentifying functional groups. Provides images of ball-and-stick models and allows the use of a molecular visualisation package to rotate the images of the molecules to show their three-dimensional nature.

Series

Discovering Science, Course S103

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Multimedia; CD-ROM. PC Windows version only.

Year of production

1998

Availability

Sale; 1999 sale: £29.99 (+VAT +p&p)

Documentation

Accompanying printed activity and summary notes.

Subjects

Chemistry; Physics

Keywords

atoms; chemical compounds; chemical elements; electrons; molecules; periodic table

Distribution Formats

Type

CD-ROM

Production Company

Name

BBC Open University Productions

Distributor

Name

Open University Worldwide

Web

http://www.ouw.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 1908 274066

Address

Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA

Notes

NB. As of May 2016 Open University Worldwide are no longer distributing DVDs. They have posted this message on their website: ‘Unfortunately Open University Worldwide Limited has decided that product sales are no longer viable given the reduced funding to Higher Education institutions and diminishing demand for the products we have traditionally stocked. At present the Open University Students Association (OUSA) will continue to sell the "Good Study Guide", and we are in discussion with other possible distributors to continue to make The Open University’s products available for purchase. As soon as we have any information on other channels of distribution we will update this notice’. Some products are still available via second hand dealers on Amazon.co.uk