Molecular Geometry
Molecular Geometry
BrF5
It's All in the Shape: Quick Guide for Instructors
Here are six activities designed for a General Chemistry for Engineers class. They depend on a variety of technologies available free on the Internet and could be done as remote labs! This is a better more interactive and hands-on minds-on approach to learning geometry. These are Google Docs, so download and then go to File on the menu bar > Make a Copy... to get a copy in your Google account, which YOU can manipulate and/or edit. A usage guide for Gen Chem 1 along with some assessments are given below.
Discover geometries for 2-6 electron pairs and introduce wedge diagrams for illustrating geometries! Explores ideal geometries and their bond angles only!
PhET sim - Molecule Shapes: Basic
External links
Brings in distortion of ideal geometries via experimental bond angle measurements caused by lone pairs plus discover positioning rules on geometries!
PhET sim - Molecule Shapes
PhET sim - Molecule Polarity
External links
Demonstrates that the geometries occur in larger molecules and crystalline solids.
Avogadro software (freeware)
YouTube video - Avogadro: Manipulate & Measure
Structure files to download
External links
This is hybridization with the emphasis on carbon!
YouTube video - Carbon-carbon Bond Rotation
Interactive Excel spreadsheet - Energy Profiles for Internal Rotation
External links
Brings molecular structure in with other course concepts (phase diagrams, crystal structures) and uses materials important in engineering (graphene, nanotubes).
Avogadro software (freeware)
YouTube video - Using the Nanotube Builder in Avogadro - TBD
Structure files to download
Interactive Excel spreadsheet - Carbon Nanotubes
External links
Compares benzene and borazine molecules as the building blocks for graphene and h-BN 2D sheet structures respectively.
Avogadro software (freeware)
Structure files to download need h-BN 2D sheet structure (mol or xyz format)
External links
Four short videos illustrating the faces as the geometries are rotated (produced in Spartan 02):
trigonal planar
tetrahedron
trigonal bipyramidal
octahedron
The Carbonic Acid System - Check Your Geometry!, a new assessment assuming completion of activities I, II, and IV.
Allene wedge diagram from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allenes#/media/File:Allene.png
Umbrella molecule, BrF5 from: http://ensignchemistry.com/jsmol%20models/textbook/BrF5/