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The following | are excerpts from the Woodstock Times review of Periodic Spiral. It's elemental | The chemistry of Jeff Moran Behind Woodstock's closed doors, strange and fascinating things are often happening. Recently I discovered a real goodie: the release of a new locally-grown software product called Periodic Spiral. Created by Woodstocker Jeff Moran and his company, Electric Prism, this was not a trivial project. To the contrary, a powerful new teaching resource is now suddenly unleashed to colleges, schools, and anyone interested in the world about them. The specific realm we're talking about is chemistry. [ ..... ] Jeff has made the chemical elements logical and fresh, with amazing facts that pop out with the click of a mouse. [ ..... ] Did you know that gold is found in a newborn baby's toenails? That two-thirds of your body is oxygen? That liquid mercury is so dense, bars of lead easily float on it? If this type of knowledge holds allure, then you might check out Periodic Spiral's colorful screen and click on, say, mercury. With mercury highlighted, selecting one of a dozen buttons at the bottom suddenly lets you discover pages and pages of info about that element's forms, geology, history, uses and so on. [ ..... ] You get the idea. If you'd like to learn what elements are in your blood, or about gemstone composition, or who discovered uranium and when, or the history and composition of precious coinage metals–well, here it is, easily and with no hassle. One can browse, explore, use it as a reference, or for research. Obviously, chemisty students on all levels will find this invaluable. But any educated person, particularly writers or those who need readily accessible info on the physical world, now have a clickable, well-though-out handbook with the rich and thorough equivalent of 600 pages of text. [ ..... ] Since its release a month ago, Jeff has gotten floods of mail from educators in various fields, and I think this on-screen handbook will be a winner. It should generate new interest and excitement in an old venerable field. Bob Berman |
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