A Computer Algebra Approach to Solving Chemical Equilibria in General Chemistry

Abstract

In this article, we report on a semester-long study of the incorporation into our general chemistry course, of advanced algebraic and computer algebra techniques for solving chemical equilibrium problems. The method presented here is an alternative to the commonly used concentration table method for describing chemical equilibria in general chemistry. In order to test the impact of our method on student learning, we measured the performance of students who used the method. We designated a group of students in our course as the study group, followed their progress through the course, and compared them to other students learning with more traditional approaches. As discussed in the article, we see significant increases in the performance indicators.

Keywords:

• General chemistry
• equilibrium
• computer algebra
• nonlinear equations