Using MS Excel to Learn general Chemistry

摘要

MS Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Application) has been used to develop GChem, an application to help students learn basic concepts in Chemistry. This application which contains seven modules, is an improved version of the same application developed previously which only has five modules. In addition to electrochemistry, pH of acid base, molecular weight calculator, empirical formula and thermochemistry, two new modules; ideal and Van der Waals gas and chemical equilibrium have been added. The ease of storing data in worksheets and the ability to link these data to the commands of the visual basic editor makes Excel VBA an attractive tool to develop application that allows students of general chemistry to use this as a learning aid. The modules developed so far focus on chemistry concepts that involve calculations. This application is suitable to students taking undergraduate general chemistry course. We are also encouraged by the positive response of a survey given to a group of our students.