Alchemy? : Chemistry & Industrial Processes for Schools and Colleges

Aimed at both 11-16 science and post-16 chemistry students and teachers, Alchemy? is a set of two CD-ROMs built around 15 video clips, each lasting approximately five minutes.

The clips cover the following industrial processes: aluminium, ammonia, chemicals from salt, copper refining, gases from the air, iron and steel, nitric acid, Nylon, oil refining, polythene, sodium, sulfuric acid, combinatorial chemistry, computational chemistry and making medicines.

The video clips can be viewed by individual students or by a whole class using a large monitor or data projector.

The video commentary can be displayed as sub-titles, allowing the package to be used by the hard-of-hearing as well as in a computer suite.

In addition to a video clip, each topic includes: an introduction to the process with a slide show of some end uses of the product; a fact file with percentage uses and graphs; a set of multiple choice questions that can be attempted and marked on screen; and a set of teachers' resources including notes on the process, printable diagrams and stills from the video and longer questions (with answers).