LOS ALAMOS, N.M., May 16, 2001 -- ScientificAmerican.com,
part of Scientific American Magazine, has named
a chemistry Web site at the Department of Energy's
Los Alamos National Laboratory one of the top 50
best Web resources in science and technology. The
2001 Sci/Tech Web Awards were announced May 14 and
are available at http://www.scientificamerican.com/explorations/2001/051401top50/.
Los Alamos' periodic table of the elements Web
site is not only an award winner, it's popular,
too --since May 2000 the site has logged nearly
two million hits. "The Web offers any number
of periodic charts," according to the magazine,
"but this one from Los Alamos National Laboratory
is by far among the best."
The site is linked to the Laboratory's Chemistry
Division home page and is maintained and updated
by computer technician Nick Degidio and staff member
Moses Attrep both of the Chemistry Division.
"We average about 30,000 hits a month,"
said Degidio. "And that number doubles around
finals, term papers and midterm exam time. Its popularity
is pretty surprising."
"Nobody quite remembers how exactly it got
started," said Attrep. "It was developed
more than five years ago by a grad student and was
originally designed to be a resource internal to
the Lab, but has evolved into a reference source
externally, focused on chemistry students in the
mid- and high-school age group. It's been running
full-up for about four years now."
Of the many periodic table sites on the World Wide
Web, originating from around the globe, most are
aimed at the college or professional level. Los
Alamos' site is set apart from the others because
of its easy-to-use format and its feedback channel
for questions and comments.
To go directly to the periodic table click on http://www.periodic.lanl.gov/
and you'll see the full color periodic table with
links to every element, answers to frequently asked
questions and place for asking new questions.
In just a few clicks you can find out that the
periodic table was originally developed in 1872
by Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev, and that
the table is arranged by atomic number, which generally
follows atomic weight. There are detailed pages
that address what a periodic table is, how it is
used, what chemistry is-in a nutshell- and how new
elements are named.
A quick click on the element carbon and you'll
find that its atomic number is six, its symbol is
"C" and its weight is 12.011. You'll also
find descriptions of carbon's uses, history, forms,
compounds and isotopes. The information is detailed
enough for the high school chemistry student and
is up-to-date. Under carbon you'll find that while
three forms of carbon exist naturally, amorphous,
graphite and diamond, there is new research that
indicates a man-made form of carbon, so-called "white"
carbon is also thought to exist.
But the really fun thing about the site for Attrep
and Degidio are the questions that pour in from
kids taking their first steps toward a better understanding
of chemistry.
"We get two or three questions every day,"
said Degidio. "I do an initial screening and
answer questions that don't deal directly with chemistry,
then I pass the rest to Moses."
"It's fun, I really enjoy answering the questions,"
said Attrep. "I can tell if the kids are really
curious about chemistry, or if they're just trying
to get me to answer a question for their teacher.
Sometimes the grammar is a bit suspect, but we try
our best to supply a good answer."
None of this is new to Attrep, who taught chemistry
for 19 years at East Texas University and is still
teaching, not only through the periodic table site,
but also at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos.
A couple of recent questions that have come in
through the site include one on April 1, 2001 from
Carolyn, who describes herself as a high-school
junior and asks, "Would the reaction between
SrO and water be acidic or basic? What would happen
if AgNO3 was added to a solution of NaAt?"
"I could tell right away that these were questions
that had come from natural curiosity, and not from
a test question," said Attrep.
Other questions are obviously motivated by homework
assignments.
Aaron, age unknown, also wrote on April 1 and supplied
a list of 13 questions that included question number
eight, "What are the alkaline earth metals
and what main characteristics do they possess?"
"It was very clear," said Attrep, "that
Aaron was just dumping his homework on me. So I
wrote him back and let him know that the answers
to his questions were all there in his textbook
and that he should try studying."
The periodic table website was recently featured
on the Department of Energy homepage "kidzone"
which features a variety of sites for children.
The site has also been featured several times on
Yahoo's "Science Web Ring" service that
points web surfers to scientific reference materials.
"We're always thinking about ways to make
the site better," said Degidio. "We're
currently toying with the idea of translating it
into Spanish or French." Attrep is also thinking
about adding a section on nuclear chemistry, his
specialty.
"The driving force has always been public
and community service," said Attrep. "We
just want to give something back, to share a bit
of our knowledge."
Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the
University of California for the U.S. Department
of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
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