This is a tool that will probably be very useful in the classroom. Wolfram|Alpha, the powerful computational search engine, has added custom widgets that can be embedded into blogs and websites. This is mainly useful to take the “guess work” out of queries, and allow students to find the information they need faster.
I like to evaluate new tools by diving in. No demo, no reading instructions, just doing what I can with what is there. Sign up for a free account, and give it a spin! Here are some examples of what I was able to do rather quickly:
Density (<3 minutes to create):
I cover density early in my chemistry class. Regardless of how I do it, at some point, students are asked to identify an unknown metal using its density. What if we had them look up metal densities instead of giving them a reference sheet?
Comparing all properties of two substances (<3 minutes to create):
Comparing specific properties of two substances (3 minutes to create): Applications for this are endless. Here’s a quick example: If you don’t want to create a separate widget for every property (5 minutes to create).
Solution Preparation Widget Fail
One of my main uses of Wolfram|Alpha as a lab prep person is solution preparation. It would be great to have a widget where you could input specific information (“I need ____ mL of a ___ M solution of ____. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will check out the demo.
Do you think this is a useful tool? If so, what are some possible uses? I hope you give it a try, because it is very easy to make a simple widget. If you don’t have the time, desire, or patience to make your own, the public gallery is sure to be populated soon with a wide variety of widgets you can use.