Modern Science Modules
Description
These modules are created by ICLCS MDPhd Students who serve as instructors and mentors in the ICLCS. Each modules uses computational tools to demonstrate key concepts.| Presentation Title | Brief Summary |
| Molecular Geometry and IR Spectra Using WebMO | Using molecular geometry and the IR spectra of H2O and CO2 as the focus, this module relates chemistry to real world applications. |
| Design Your Own Artificial Sweetener | This module will allow students to apply their knowledge of intermolecular forces through both a virtual lab and wet lab, while briefly explaining the chemical principles behind sweetness. |
| Crash Tests for Dummies: Airbags, Nomenclature, and the Ideal Gas Law |
Through this module, students will utilize ChemSketch to draw and generate the names of reactants and products used in airbags, familiarize themselves with some of the basics of hydrocarbon and acid-base nomenclature, construct and deploy their own model airbag, and calculate inflation conditions for different airbags using the Ideal Gas Law. |
| Hot Air Saves Lives: Airbags and Thermodynamics |
Students will learn to draw 3-D models of each of the compounds contained within airbags using WebMO, determine the internal energy of these products or reactants, and calculate the total change in enthalpy for a reaction using an online calculator provided by the Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database (CCDBD). |
| Molecules in Motion: Airbags and the Kinetic Theory of Gases |
Students will familiarize themselves with the Kinetic Theory of Gases and Maxwell distribution of molecular speeds, use 2-D and 3-dimensional online simulators of ideal gases to correlate such parameters as molar mass and temperature with the motion and velocity of gas particles, calculate the most probable speed and root mean square speed of these molecules to compare the properties of different types of gases, and virtually experiment with and demonstrate the effects of altering pressure and temperature on gas behavior. |
| Na+/K+ ATPase and Electrochemistry | This module will show students how electrochemistry applies to biology and how they can use Nernst equation |
| Acids, Bases and Drug Absorption | This module will introduce the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and demonstrate to students that acid-base chemistry is essential to understanding how biological molecules work in this case how drugs are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. |
| Fluorescence | This module introduces fluorescence and a few of its applications in biology. |
| Exploration of chemical kinetics of sulfur trioxide formation | This module helps students visualize a graphical representation of the chemical reaction: 2SO2 + O2 -> 2SO3, as well as showing them how to calculate the equilibrium constant. |
| Stoichiometry of Propane Combustion | This module aids students in visualizing how different amounts of reactants affect the progression of a chemical reaction to create products and in investigating the principle of the limiting reactant. |
| Exploring heats of formation of propane combustion | Through this module, students will visualize and compute the heat of formation (Hf) and relate the thermodynamic property to why some chemical reactions generate energy while others do not. |
| Greenhouse effect/IR absorption spectra | This module gives students the opportunity to visualize the infrared absorption spectra of greenhouse gases in order to understand how the earth maintains its mean surface temperature. |
| Simple molecular geometry | In this module students visualize how different molecules with the same number of atoms can have different molecular geometries. |
| Steroids and Their Diverse Effects | This module gives background information on steroid hormones, explores their importance in human physiology, and looks at the dangers of using synthetic anabolic steroids. |
| Thermodynamics of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and Muscle Contraction | This module introduces students to the concept of bond energy and thermodynamics and to one biological function of ATP which emphasizes that chemical thermodynamics explains processes such as muscle contraction. |
| Acids, Bases and Drug Absorption | This module introduces the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and demonstrates to students that acid-base chemistry is essential to understanding how biological molecules work in this case how drugs are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. |
| Biochemistry of Vitamins | This module discusses vitamin biochemistry and some pathologies associated with various deficiencies, relates the visible spectrum of light with vitamins, and investigates their structure using a Vitamin A template in ChemSketch. |
| Why Do Bruises Change Color? | Students will learn the basic biochemistry about how bruises form, the relationship between color and absorption/reflection of light, the electromagnetic spectrum, and how to calculate the absorption of visible light. |
| Let's Make Waves | In this module, students will review the wave nature of light and be able to calculate wavelength and frequency using slider bars in Excel. |