Periodic Table Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, -------------- September 2007. +===========================================================+ | T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S | +===========================================================+ | * Introduction | * Why I wrote this program ? | * Accuracy of the Data Presented | * Installing and Using this Program | * Uninstalling this Program | * Glossary of Terms | * The Future | * Reviews / Awards / CDs | * Freeware Information | * Warranty | * Amendment History | * Contacting the Program's Author +===========================================================+ Introduction : -------------- Periodic Table is for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, etc. This program is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. See "Freeware Information" below. Periodic Table is a program to help you investigate, look up, or compare the details for all known elements. e.g. Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, etc. Periodic Table includes : - A standard Periodic Table of Elements - if you click an element, then a report for the selected element is displayed. You can also find an element by name or abbreviation - to make it easier to look up elements - by using the buttons or menu options provided. - 16 Element Comparison Graphs to let you compare criteria for each element. e.g. Atomic Radius, Atomic Weight, Boiling Point (K), Melting Point (K), Electrical Conductivity, etc. All data (including the reports and graphs !) can be copied to Windows Clipboard at the click of a button, so that you can then paste them into your own documents and use them in your own projects / research / web pages / etc. If you do use this information or the reports or graphs in your own own projects / research / web pages / etc, then please provide a link to my WEB page. All data has been checked against various text books and internet sources, however, there was a lot of variation in the details these sources presented - see "Accuracy of the Data Presented" below. A Glossary of Terms is provided within the program to explain the terms used within this program. There are buttons and menu options to enable you to : 1. Copy an image of the Periodic Table to Windows' Clipboard, so you can paste it into a document in your word processor or spreadsheet or whatever. 2. Save an image of the Periodic Table to file, so you can load this and use this elsewhere, as needed. 3. Set the Window's Desktop to be an image of the Periodic Table, so the Periodic Table is there in the background all the time. All of this functionality works according to the current size of the program's main window - so if you want a bigger image, then make the main window bigger before invoking these functions. e.g. use the Maximise icon in the top right hand corner (title bar). This program should be useful to anyone who wants to learn more about the elements that make up our universe. Developed using 32-bit Delphi. This program will **NOT** run under Windows 3.x (even with Win32 installed). Why I wrote this program ? -------------------------------------------- Periodic Table programs are a "dime a dozen" on the internet, and many are freeware or shareware, so why did I bother to develop yet another Periodic Table program ?? This is a program I have wanted to write / develop for ages. However, I have not done this because of the massive number of programs already written on the Periodic Table. Over the past few years, I have been reading a lot about the planets and options for human colonisation and expansion, and in particular, I have been reading about TerraForming. Terraforming is a process of planetary engineering, specifically directed at enhancing the capacity of an extraterrestrial planetary environment to support life. The ultimate in terraforming would be to create an uncontained planetary biosphere emulating all the functions of the biosphere of the Earth---one that would be fully habitable for human beings. (Definition courtesy of M.J. Fogg) So, a good Periodic Table was a step towards understanding how we could TerraForm another planet. In early October, 2002, I checked out a whole swag of "FREEWARE" programs, and none of these included the latest details of the most recently found elements. Most were very old, and they were quite primitive and some contained many flaws. Then I checked out a whole swag of "SHAREWARE" programs, and these were much better, but they were either inaccurate or else they were so crippled so that I could not look up more than a few elements. None of the dozen or so programs I reviewed included a glossary of terms (unlike my Periodic Table program), and I wasn't completely happy with any of them. So, as I usually do, I just sat down and finally wrote my own program - and Periodic Table of Elements is the result. Prices for these other shareware programs started at $20 US, and most authors were asking between $35 US and $50 US. The price for my Periodic Table program is $10 Aussie dollars (which equals $5 US approx) - a real bargain in comparison !! Accuracy of the Data Presented : -------------------------------- All data has been checked against various text books and internet sources, however, there was a lot of variation in the details these sources presented, so I cannot be certain that everything is 100% correct. Compiling this information and checking it against multiple sources to verify every single figure has been a major piece of work - requiring many long nights. The following Periodic Table / Chemistry web sites have been used to double check key figures for all elements : http://chemlab.pc.maricopa.edu/periodic/ In addition, my Encyclopeadia Britanica DVD has also provided some assistance in this. If anyone finds any errors in any values presented in the program, then please make sure that you have the latest version of the program. (i.e. download this from my web page - see below). If you are using the latest version of the program, and you still believe that this has errors and you are sure that your units and numbers are correct, then please email me and let me know, what values you think are wrong and why, and what the correct values should be. I will then look at things and check things out, and if I can confirm the errors, then I will fix these and prepare a new version of the program. Installing and Using this Program : ----------------------------------- To use this program, unzip the contents of the ZIP file to a directory - such as c:\Chemistry\ - and run the executable file : Periodic_Table.EXE. You can also drag and drop shortcuts to this program onto your Desktop or Start Menu using Windows Explorer. If you want the program to run automatically when Windows starts up, then select this option under the "File" menu in the program. I hope you find the program easy to use and useful. Uninstalling this Program : --------------------------- At the present time, there is No Uninstall function. If you ever want to delete Periodic Table from your computer, then : 1. Exit the program, and delete it from wherever you installed it on your harddrive. Simple as that ! Glossary of Terms : ------------------- A Glossary of Terms is provided within the program to explain the terms used within this program. This Glossary is now accessible from within the program. e.g. press the "Glossary" button or use the "Glossary of Terms" option under the Help menu. The Future : ------------ In the future, many improvements could be made to this program, such as : - More information on each element, especially : * Colour * Odour * Flammable in Earth's Atmosphere * Ductile * Malleable * Hardness (Mo) * Abundance in Universe * Abundance in our Solar System * Abundance on Earth * Abundance in Earth's Atmosphere * Abundance in Earth's Oceans * Compressability * Essential to human or animal life as we know it * Toxic to human or animal life as we know it * Essential to plant life as we know it * Toxic to plant life as we know it * Number of isotopes * Half-Life (if applicable) * Half-life for the longest and shortest lived isotopes. * Uses / Applications * etc, etc, etc There are many dozens of things that can be added into this program for each element. - More Graphs. - The ability to "ZOOM" in on the graphs - so you can see what is going on in more detail. - Ability to extract any or all data for each element from the program so you can use this data in your own reports or spreadsheets. - Form Scaling, Maximise functionality. - Anything else ? If you would like any of these improvements, or would like to suggest more, please email me and let me know. How much more work I do on this program depends entirely on what support I get, how many people use the program, etc. Reviews / Awards / CDs : ------------------------- None so far. Freeware Information : ----------------------- This is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. However, if you find the program useful, then please consider making a PayPal donation to support my efforts. (To make a donation, please run the program and select the "About" option under the Help menu, and then click the PayPal link on the "About" screen). Warranty : ---------- This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. The user assumes the entire risk of using this software. If you do find any faults with this program, email me and let me know. Amendment History : ------------------- Vers Date Description 1.0 14-Oct-2002 First Public Release. (30,580 lines of code / comments.) 1.1 15-Oct-2002 You can now choose your own colours - i.e. you can now left or right mouse click on the coloured boxes in the "Element Group Key / Legend", and select new colours for each group of elements. Add in an on-line Glossary of Terms - this is accessible from within the program. e.g. press the "Glossary" button or use the "Glossary of Terms" option under the Help menu. From now on, only Registered users can copy the Glossary of Terms and Element Reports to Window's Clipboard. Improve the formatting of some numbers / data. e.g. Show 1.2300 as 1.23, etc on the element reports. (31,314 lines of code / comments.) 2.0 17-Oct-2002 This is a fairly Massive Update !!!! Double check all key values (Atomic Weight, Atomic Radius, Boiling Point, Melting Point, Density, Bonding Covalent Radius, Electron Negativity, etc) against other sources - such as various Periodic Table / Chemistry web sites, especially : http://chemlab.pc.maricopa.edu/periodic/ and my Encyclopeadia Britanica DVD. It has been very hard work - as no two information sources seem to 100% agree on the details for each element. However, I am now much more confident in the accuracy of the information presented in this program. Add in some additional details about each element - such as interesting properties, uses, or facts. Add in the Discoverer and the Year of Discovery (where known). For elements that have been know since ancient times (copper, lead, etc), the Year of Discovery was nominated to be -1,000 (i.e. 1000 B.C.) just to provide a more representative range on the Year of Discovery graph. Add a few additional terms into the Glossary of Terms. Add more descriptive Acid / Base properties : use Strong, Mild, and Weak for Acids and Bases. Add in column (group) headings : Ia, IIa, IIIa, etc. Add in Form and Component Scaling when the program's main window is resized - really Cool !! Add in support for the Maximise icon in the top right corner of the program's main window. Various minor usability enhancements : you can now left or right mouse click on any element to view the report, display the number of terms in the Glossary, etc. Improve the and compact the interface - use StaticText components instead of the previous Groupbox + Label. Add in buttons and menu options to provide the user with the ability to : 1. Copy an image of the Periodic Table to Windows' Clipboard, 2. Save an image of the Periodic Table to file, and, 3. Set the Window's Desktop to be an image of the Periodic Table. All of these work according to the current size of the program's main window - so if you want a bigger image, then make the main window bigger before invoking these functions. (36,252 lines of code / comments.) 2.0b 20-Nov-2002 Bring the program up to date with my latest code libraries. (41,867 lines of code / comments.) 2.1 30-June-2003 Bring the program up to date with my latest code libraries. Add in support for all of the various Windows Regional Settings for numbers. i.e. Allow people to use something other than a full stop as the decimal point, and something other than a comma as a 1,000's separator. (Special thanks to Mathijs for reporting this issue). (69,905 lines of code / comments.) 2.2 2-Feb-2005 Bring the program up to date with my latest code libraries. Fix the truncation of significant leading zeroes on the Element Properties reports. (Special thanks to Blane P for reporting this issue). (71,828 lines of code / comments.) 2.2f 3-Sep-2007 This program is now FREEWARE - see "Freeware Information" above. If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then it is possibly an old version. The latest version of this program is available from my WEB page - see below. Mike "Moose" O'Malley ____________________________________________________ Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996. WEB: http://move.to/moose ____________________________________________________