Group Rotation, Min/Max, & Alkanes

2005/11/01T

Rotation!

Wow! It's been a long time since I last updated the periodic table, but finally, I've implemented another improvement based on a periodic table that Prof. Zoller uses. He has utilized a table that has the groups shifted so that the noble gases can be centered. This makes it easier to visualize the distance of an element to either side of the nobels when attempting to figure out it's charge. But rather than stop right there, I decided to let the user rotate the table to any number of columns or groups s/he desires in either the standard or the Lanthanide/Actinide embedded format.

This is controlled by a new and improved configuration menu that has a slider bar to indicate how many groups of rotation are currently implemented. And if it seems strange to have the lanthanides and actinides rotated, there is a checkbox to lock them in place independent of the table.  Also, when they are embedded within the long format table, they can't be locked at all.

 

Here's what Professor Bill Zoller of the University of Washington's Chemistry Department has to say on the subject:

The purpose of having the periodic table rotating is that the Noble gases could easily be placed in the middle of the table, as the alkali metals all tend to have oxidation numbers of +1, they loose one electron to have the same electronic structure as a noble gas! The halogens like to have an oxidation number of -1, as they tend to gain one extra electron and have the same electronic structure as a noble gas! Like wise the Alkaline earth elements tend to loose two electrons and have the same electronic structure as a noble gas. The oxygen family tend to gain two electrons and again look like a noble gas!

Prof. Bill Zoller, UW Chem Dept.

To see the new rotation capability in action, open up the Interactive Periodic Table.

New Minimize/Maximize Capability

The attendant "windows" such as the Electron Orbitals, the Minigraph, and the Element Details, all get rotated along with the window. So there are some rotated positions that will have a part of those sub-windows slightly off-screen. If those subwindows get in the way, they can now be individually locked small, made to grow or shrink with mouseover, or stay large. This can be accomplished either with buttons that appear in the upper left corner of those windows, or from radio buttons on the configuration menu.

 

 

 

An Alkane Flash Applet

Finally, just for grins, I created a small applet that shows the "alkanes." It shows the diagram, the empirical formula, the name, and the melting and boiling points. To use this, just mouseover the diagram. As ever, no clicking required. Click here to open up the ALKANES flash applet. You can find other chemistry related flash applets here.