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For information on how to download or read files, see page File problems. That page also discusses file formats.
Please let me know if you have trouble accessing any files; sometimes, your comment is the way I find out that there is a problem.
(June 2008. Minor problem in Testfile corrected; details below. Macros remain the same.)
(June 2006. Distribution information and contact information in manual updated; macros remain the same.)
(Dec 2003. Contact information in manual updated; macros remain the same.)
(Sept 24, 2000. New version posted, including update of the Dutch-language macro.)
(Sept 2000: a version in Dutch is now available.)
(Aug 2000: a new version is now available.)
ChemFormula is a macro that works in Microsoft Word for Windows. The primary author of ChemFormula is Greg Pearce. ChemFormula allows you to type chemical formula expressions without worrying about formatting; ChemFormula will add formatting features, such as subscripts, superscripts, and raised dots.
ChemFormula was written for versions of Microsoft Word for Windows from Word 6 to the version current when we wrote it, Word 2000. It has been tested and works fine in more recent versions, up through and including Word 2003. We would appreciate hearing from users what happens, good or bad. (In general, the version of Windows does not matter, so long as Word runs.)
New section May 26, 2008. Macintosh. Although ChemFormula was written for Word for Windows, we are told that it does run on some versions of Word for the Mac. The key is whether your Word for Mac supports VBA as its macro language. If your Word supports VBA, then apparently ChemFormula will run; use the version labeled "macro97". Support for VBA varies among versions of Word. We are told that it is fine with Word 2004, but missing from Word 2008. We are also told that Mac support for VBA may be restored in a future version.
The following table shows some examples of what ChemFormula does.
The ChemFormula "package" contains five files. Read the short file called README.TXT to get started. The package includes the macro itself, plus a manual to describe installation and use, and a "test file" to show you many examples of how ChemFormula works.
ChemFormula is available here as a ZIP file. Windows XP can open it. If you have an older version of Windows you will need an unzipping program; many are available from commercial and shareware or freeware sources. One option is to obtain WinZip from http://www.winzip.com.
You can also email me with any questions or to obtain the separate files. See Contact information at bottom of page.
Download ChemFormula (chemform.zip; 45 kB)
Dutch language version. A version of the ChemFormula macro for Word 97 and newer is now available in Dutch. The screen prompts and also the code comments have been translated. We thank Wijnhold Bolt for supplying this translation of ChemFormula. Users of the Dutch version will probably also want to download the main ChemFormula package, listed above, to get the manual and testfile, in English. The Dutch version corresponds to the September 21, 2000, version of ChemFormula. (See Version history, below.)
Download ChemFormula in Dutch, for Word 97 and newer (macro97d.zip).
History of ChemFormula versions. (This information is also in the ChemFormula manual.)
This section may guide users as to whether they should upgrade to a new version of ChemFormula.
Determining version date:
The only definite way to determine the version date is to look at the code of the macro. The version date is on the first line of the macro.
If you have the distributed files, you can just open the appropriate macroX.doc file in Word, and look at the top line. Alternatively, you can examine the macro you have installed. To do this, see the instructions in Sect N of the ChemFormula Manual for how to edit the macro.
The date listed in your file directory may not correspond to the actual version date, since the directory date can be updated from time to time as files are copied.
Version histories for both Macro6 and Macro97:
June 2008. A minor problem in the Testfile was corrected. For "Chemicals with dots", some of the dots were shown already raised. ChemFormula would properly handle them, but the intent was that they start as regular periods; they are now regular periods, and ChemFormula should raise them. There are no changes in the macros, but those who use the Testfile might want to get this new zip file to get the corrected Testfile.
June 2006. The manual was updated, to reflect a change in how the ChemFormula files are packaged. This change has no effect for those who already have ChemFormula. Further, the contact information was updated, and that information was also updated in the manual, chemform.doc. The running code remains the same, and the file date shown within the macros was not changed. There is no need to change your version of the macro.
December 2003. Only the contact information was updated, and that information was also updated in the manual, chemform.doc. The running code remains the same, and the file date shown within the macros was not changed. There is no need to change your version of the macro.
September 21, 2000. "Non-breaking hyphens" are now treated the same as regular hyphens. (In previous versions, if you used a non-breaking hyphen in writing a negative charge, ChemFormula would not notice it. Use of a non-breaking hyphen will prevent an unwanted line break at the - character.)
August 28, 2000. This version addresses two bugs that were reported.
1. The original version would not properly format the subscript 3 in (NH4+)3PO43-. More specifically, it would not allow a subscript after some charged groups in parentheses.
ChemFormula was designed to format molecular expressions that have no charge, and also to format ions that have a charge at the end of the expression. Including charges in the middle of an expression can confuse ChemFormula; it will format some such expressions but not others.
ChemFormula was designed to format molecular expressions that have no charge, and also to format ions. Including charges within a molecular formula can confuse ChemFormula.
This upgrade will format ions that are part of a chemical formula if the ion with its charge is in parentheses. If the ion is not in parentheses, the upgrade will format some cases and not others. See Sect H and the TestFile for examples.
2. The original version was designed to allow formatting of the charge in e-, as would be written in redox equations. To do this, it checked for occurrences of "e-" and asked about the hyphen in all such cases (such as in "pre-installed"). In most cases, no error resulted from this; it was merely an unnecessary question. One type of such problem has now been eliminated. This upgrade will ignore hyphens in words that start with a lower case letter, such as "pre-installed"; it will still recognize the isolated "e-" (preceded by a space, a + or - sign, or a number) as "electron". However, hyphens in words that begin with a capital letter will still confuse ChemFormula. Fixing this would require that ChemFormula stop and ask the user more questions; at this point, the problem does not seem sufficient to warrant this. This limitation of ChemFormula is listed above, in Sect H. We welcome feedback from users on this issue.
Sept 28, 1998. First official version. Earlier versions were distributed informally, for testing, but there are no formal records of what changes were made in specific versions prior to this date. If your version of ChemFormula is dated prior to this, you definitely should upgrade.
This is the periodic table (PT) handout, which I provide to the Intro Chem classes (X11) for use on tests.
This PT corresponds to the PT in the Intro Chem textbook I use, with the following modifications:
* It includes the names of the elements (as well as symbols). I think this is particularly useful for new chem students.
* I have updated it to show new names that have been approved or at least are under official consideration. These include the names for elements #110 & 111. See Names of elements section of my page of Internet Resources for Intro Chem.
*
I have updated it to show new elements that have been reported. For more about these, see the sections of my page of Internet Resources for Intro Chem for Elements #113 and 115 and Element #118. #118 was announced in October 2006. (I have not yet included element 122, for which a discovery claim was made, April 2008. See section Element #122.)
Download periodic table handout: pt.pdf
This is a PDF file, for viewing with Acrobat Reader. It prints on one page, but it is very crowded, to get the element names on. Please let me know of problems. (If anyone wants the source file, please contact me. It is currently an OpenOffice file, but that can be converted to a Word DOC file.)
A form of carbon that has attracted considerable attention in recent years is "fullerene". The main molecule in this family, C60, is more formally known as buckminsterfullerene, though the nickname "buckyballs" is common.
Now, you can make your own buckyballs. All you need are two copies of the following figure, some scissors, and some tape or glue.
The buckyball kit. (buckykit.gif)
Instructions? Print out two copies of the figure. Then cut out the drawings, around the outer boundary. Fold and tape.
Thanks to Dr. Chen Tsai, math and engineering instructor at Contra Costa College, for suggesting this kit.
Homework problems were included in each chapter handout. Molecular Biology chapter handouts.
Sample tests: Molecular Biology sample tests.
The molecular biology problem sets have not been maintained recently. Nevertheless, many of the questions are "timeless", and should still be useful.
Most of these handouts are my chapter notes to accompany the textbook.
Class handouts: Chemistry (Intro, General) Introduction to Organic and Biochemistry Principles of Molecular Biology
Home page for Intro Chem (X11) Organic/Biochem (X402) Biotechnology in the News (BITN) Molecular Biology
Writing, drawing and viewing chemical formulas Chemistry practice problems
Contact information Site home page
Last update: February 26, 2009
