morganism
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Registered: 8-12-2012
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Virtual chem lab, w energetics !
there is now an app for that
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id839552862
a hand cranked, punch card operated lab
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/hand-crank-chemistry-set/
and making homemade, or cheap spectrophotometers. the benchtop model is pretty sweet, and parts list is there too.
http://www.publiclab.org/
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pichoro
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I was so excited for this app, then I found out it is iPad only. So sad.
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Etaoin Shrdlu
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The app is very charming. The occasional bit of trivia was a nice touch. It has multiple errors, though,* and I would like to see more emphasis on
actually understanding the reactions. It seems like the start of a promising project, but it's certainly not complete by any means.
Sad thing is someone put a lot of love into getting the visual appearance of some reactions right, and some are just dead wrong. Also dear god why do
the end products always evaporate?
The "safe for all ages" slogan on the splash screen made me a bit sad, too.
*For instance, they show bromine as a powder, this despite linking to a quite nice video showing a distillation setup and the final product.
[Edited on 6-12-2014 by Etaoin Shrdlu]
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Dr.Bob
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I remember when most science required IBM punched cards to solve the math... I could do a substructure search with a card reader and about 60,000
punched cards in only a few hours...
Those were the days.
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aga
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'app' is just half a word with an extra 'p' added/repeated.
I am Virtually a Brain Surgeon.
Gimme your Brain to mess with.
It'll be fine, honest.
I Virtually did 1000s of these ops ...
A Real Chemist isn't trained by Apps, and an App can never simulate all that You are, or provide you with real Experiences with Real substances.
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bismuthate
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This should just be for fun of course. No app prepares you for the multitude of factors present in a lab. Only hands on experience can prepare you to
work in a lab. This same problem comes up in schools. To truly be ready for chemistry you need to learn how to be able to improvise to deal with
whatever happens.
Also in my opinion they need to somehow develop the students chemical intuition too.
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Zephyr
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Quote: Originally posted by aga  |
A Real Chemist isn't trained by Apps, and an App can never simulate all that You are, or provide you with real Experiences with Real substances.
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Apps can actually be a versatile learning tool, but only to an extent. I received a chemistry text book with a free on line lab simulator, the idea
being that you could learn about the reactions and then preform them in a "safe" way. Unfortunately the virtual lab contained only structured
experiments and the strongest acid available was .5 molar HCl. Understandably, I found this very disappointing.
I would make a great goat, especially with all the training i have had in Goat Simulator XD
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Texium
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Registered: 11-1-2014
Location: Salt Lake City
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Mood: PhD candidate!
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I got the app. It's pretty fun until after you've completed all the reactions, then it's not all that interesting just doing the same stuff
repeatedly. It was really fun discovering the five secret reactions!
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