ERIC Number: EJ1195658
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
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Available Date: N/A
Employing Spreadsheets for Applying Calculus in Upper-Level Chemistry Courses
Journal of Chemical Education, v95 n10 p1890-1893 Oct 2018
This article describes the use of a spreadsheet to reinforce basic calculus that is expected of all university-level chemistry majors. The example provided shows a calculation using Excel to estimate, using a Riemann summation, the radiant exitance of a hot object using Planck's Law of Blackbody Radiation. The approach reinforces the elementary calculus topic of integrating an area under a curve in an applied chemistry setting and, additionally, requires students to understand how units propagate through integrals in order to calculate correct numerical values. This manual calculation in Excel is pedagogically more satisfying than using black-box type software to calculate areas under curves, and is widely available to almost all students through the use of Excel (or similar spreadsheets software packages).
Descriptors: Spreadsheets, College Science, Chemistry, Calculus, Computation, Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education, Mathematics, Undergraduate Study, Science Instruction
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A