ChemEd DL launches new portal...

The ChemEd DL, the NSDL’s Chemistry Pathway, has launched a new Web portal. Check out the new site atwww.chemeddl.org. Visitors can scroll through our top resources on the main page’s carousel and will find it easier to access the ChemEd DL’s resources, collections and services using the drop-down menus at the top of each page. We’ve added a scrolling News feed at the bottom of the home page to keep visitors up-to-date on important announcements from the ChemEd DL, the NSDL, and the chemical education community, as well as news from a variety of sources that will be of interest to chemistry teachers. You can also stay connected by joining our Facebook page, following us on Twitter (@chemeddl), or subscribing to the RSS news feed.

In addition to the new Web portal, we’ve unveiled updated versions of the award-winning Periodic Table Live! and Models 360 collection.

Periodic Table Live! allows users to explore a broad range of information about the elements and their properties. Each entry in the interactive PTL! contains images of the elements, interactive 3-D views of their crystal structures, videos of their reactions, physical and atomic properties, and the ability to graph numeric properties and sort properties in a data table.

Models 360 is a much expanded collection of molecular-scale structures that now includes organic and biochemical molecules as well as solid-state structures, all rendered as 3-D Jmol structures that can easily be manipulated on your screen. You can examine molecular structure and bonding and demonstrate molecular geometries, vibrations, symmetry, electron orbitals, and more. The updated collection includes an advanced search function that allows users to find the exact molecule they are looking for and a “take a snapshot” feature that encourages users to save pictures of the Jmol structures for use in their own resources and activities. Explore and enjoy!

John W. Moore
W. T. Lippincott Professor of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison
email: jwmoore@chem.wisc.edu
http://www.chem.wisc.edu/users/jwmoore