ELEMENTS & NUCLIDES REVIEW
by John Woodthorpe, "Archive" March 1996 issue
I have a confession to make; I'm fascinated by the
Periodic Table and all it represents, and collect
software (and T-shirts!) related to it. These two
programs are superb examples of what can be done to
present an enormous amount of information on the
behaviour of the elements. The author Roger
Darlington, has spent the last seven years compiling
the data and writing these applications for his own
enjoyment, and has now decided to share them with
us all at a ridiculously low cost via his newly-named
company, Atomic Software.
Each of the two applications Elements and Nuclides,
comes on an HD floppy (but I presume 800Kb DD
ones could be supplied on request) in a plastic wallet
with a few A4 pages of documentation, and costs
£14.95 for one, or £19.95 for both. To run them, you
will need at least 2Mb of RAM and a multisync
monitor. I have tested them on suitably equipped
A310, A540 and A5000 machines, and I used a
RiscPC 600 for this review. Actually, I did discover a
few problems, including one specific to the RiscPC
(the absence of mode 39 in my monitor definition
file), but they have all been resolved promptly by
Roger Darlington. Indeed, he has made substantial
improvements over the weeks that we have been in
contact for this review.
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In use
The most obvious thing you notice on starting either
application is that they don't multitask. At first, I was
disappointed, but there is so much information on
screen that it could become very cumbersome and
crowded in the desktop, without putting in a lot of
effort to organise windows. Some aspects would
definitely benefit from multitasking; such as being
able to print the information directly via the RISC OS
printer drivers and selecting the parameters to
display. Overall, though, it works well as it is, and the
author admits that he isn't a WIMP programmer.
That is really the only criticism I can level at the
programs, and it's a rather half-hearted complaint
at that!
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Elements
The paper documentation is minimal, but the
application comes with a comprehensive Help file,
and contains Ovation and text files explaining some
of the terms used. The screen for Elements displays
the conventional Periodic Table with control knobs, a
text area, a display of the selected property and a
thermometer showing important temperatures for the
selected element (see overleaf). Each display region
changes to reflect the element in question when the
cursor is moved, giving a comprehensive collection of
information that can be expanded with a mouse click.
The most useful piece of paper that was supplied lists
the properties that can be displayed, including
specific heat capacity, crystal cell sides, ionisation
potentials, density, atomic mass, and many others.
Selecting these in the program is a little tricky at first,
consisting of clicking in one of the 'control knob '
areas to rotate a line pointer, but this has been
improved considerably recently.
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The great feature is that there are two of these pointers
enabling you to
plot two properties against each other (see below),
and any screen can be saved as a sprite by pressing
the * key on the numeric keypad. There are some
suggestions of interesting plots to work through,
which could form the basis of classroom discussion or
individual worksheets for students investigating the
behaviour of the elements.
Nuclides
Here the application splits into two parts; one a
comprehensive tutorial on several aspects of nuclear
properties, and the other a Segre chart showing all the
isotopes of the elements and their decay products (see
top right). This is really detailed and an incredible
piece of work that takes some getting into.
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You can display the whole chart, a magnified portion,
decay products (see below), or half-lives, and save
screens by pressing the * key on the numeric keypad
as before. The radioactive isotopes are displayed in a
flashing colour, which flashes a bit too quickly for my
liking, but at least it's distinctive. Extra information
on using the software is in the Help file, and the
tutorial covers different decay processes, fission,
fusion, basic particles and much more.
Summary
I could describe all the features in these programs,
but I suspect Paul wouldn't let me have enough space
to do them justice! Suffice it to say that this isn't
ordinary software - it is outstanding in its scope,
detail and originality. If you, or any of the family,
have any interest in chemistry, or you're a teacher
looking for software for school, you should buy
Elements straight away. I love playing with it, looking
at different relationships and seeing if I can account
for them.
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Nuclides is more specialised, and ideally suited to
A Level or University; but when you buy Elements,
you might as well get Nuclides for the extra cost and
learn about radioactive isotopes in the process. The
value for money is incredible, and the level of detail
breathtaking.
The only thing I've seen that comes anywhere near
them is a US-produced Windows program that does
less for three times the price (and they can't spell
'aluminium'!). I described some of the features of
these two programs to a PC-owning friend, and he
was extremely jealous.
The enthusiasm of the author is another plus point.
Having started this for his own benefit, it has now
become a labour of love. New information and
features are continually being added, and upgrades
will be available in return for the original disc and £2:
Roger suggests every six months for this, which
seems a very good idea.
At these prices, everyone should send their cheques
to: Atomic Software, 1 Fells Grove, Worsley,
Manchester, M28 7JN straight away, and feel proud
that we have some chemistry software that can leave
other platforms standing!
by John Woodthorpe, "Archive" March 1996 issue
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