Re:Dynamic Periodic Table
by mechanical_fish on Saturday November 05, 2011 @12:28PM
(#3200123)
The interface feels a bit on the skittish side – it's one of those pages where you're afraid to move because it's going to change something, and where dragging the mouse around threatens to give you a seizure. And I'm not sure the color scheme is going to win any design awards.
But, still, excellent. There's a great deal of information in there. It beats consulting a big paper handbook.
Re:Dynamic Periodic Table
by scarmig on Saturday November 05, 2011 @01:47PM
(#3200354)
Yeah, the skittishness is my biggest critique of it.
I think adding a quarter of a second delay would be a good fix. If you move out of an element, go into another, you've got to remain in that one element for a quarter of a second before it changes. If you exit it before then, the timer is reset and you stay on the original element's details.
Also: if you're navigating by keyboard and on the orbitals tab, there's a bug when you're on Be. You can't hit the up arrow to go to Helium, despite it being visually placed above Beryllium. Nitpicky, I know.
Edited to add: not the creator, just offering some random impressions to the creator, if she/he's reading.
Re:Dynamic Periodic Table
by japhyr on Saturday November 05, 2011 @02:08PM
(#3200419)
I'm a high school science teacher, and I love this. I've always been surprised at how few wide-format periodic tables are out there. I think the periodic table looks much cleaner in the wide format, and it's much easier to teach atomic structure using the wide format.
I look forward to seeing how students respond to playing with this next week.
Re:Dynamic Periodic Table
by scarmig on Saturday November 05, 2011 @04:13PM
(#3200786)
The displacement of a Nimitz-class carrier is around 100,000 tons; if it's entirely made of steel, that comes out to around 11,000 cubic meters, or a 22m cube.
So, it seems like we would be a bit short of the amount of metal needed to make one of them if we wanted it made entirely of gold. But the right order of magnitude.
Of course, smaller ships are of far lower displacements, so we could make several of them.
Re:Dynamic Periodic Table
by alokm on Saturday November 05, 2011 @03:38PM
(#3200692)
It forms a superconductor at low temp and the state depends on Pressure too. Above a certain pressure it would be solid. If I remember the phase diagram correctly.
Re:Dynamic Periodic Table
by jonnytran on Sunday November 06, 2011 @05:45AM
(#3202345)
Why isn't this sort of thing the norm? After reading about dynamic pictures on http://worrydream.com/ I've become frustrated by how most things on the web don't allow this sort of exploration by users.
But, still, excellent. There's a great deal of information in there. It beats consulting a big paper handbook.
I think adding a quarter of a second delay would be a good fix. If you move out of an element, go into another, you've got to remain in that one element for a quarter of a second before it changes. If you exit it before then, the timer is reset and you stay on the original element's details.
Also: if you're navigating by keyboard and on the orbitals tab, there's a bug when you're on Be. You can't hit the up arrow to go to Helium, despite it being visually placed above Beryllium. Nitpicky, I know.
Edited to add: not the creator, just offering some random impressions to the creator, if she/he's reading.
I look forward to seeing how students respond to playing with this next week.
When I wiki'd that I also learned about the freaky phenomenon of superfluids. :)
If you beat a 8000 m^3 cube into a big sheet of gold, you could cover the entirety of Connecticut and Delaware.
So, it seems like we would be a bit short of the amount of metal needed to make one of them if we wanted it made entirely of gold. But the right order of magnitude.
Of course, smaller ships are of far lower displacements, so we could make several of them.
EDIT: http://www.google.com/search?q=phase+diagram+helium