Tag Archives: Chemistry

add a ‘standard conditions’ sign

To add the standard conditions sign to enthalpy changes or electrode potentials I used to use an ordinary o crossed-out and superscripted: However, I now use the symbol ϴ as a superscript. It’s too big so I make it font size 8 then raise it by 3 points. I wouldn’t want to do that everyContinue reading “add a ‘standard conditions’ sign”

draw an electrode potential table

If you are producing resources for the electrochemistry topic you often need to draw this table: It looks like a two-column table but if the left-hand column is actually three columns you can keep the equilibrium signs underneath each other in their own narrow column which has no left or right border. Once you haveContinue reading “draw an electrode potential table”

remove automatic numbering but keep the numbers

Automatic numbering is a good servant but a bad master. It’s possible to turn it off but what happens if you have somebody else’s document with lots of automatic numbering that you want to turn off but keep the numbers generated by it? My Australian colleague Ned Alaru gave me such a document. The codeContinue reading “remove automatic numbering but keep the numbers”

replace the short minus sign, raise the superscripts and lower the subscripts

If you write the formula for the nitrate ion in Arial you get this: The minus sign is too small and the subscript and superscript look wrong. There is a better minus sign than the one on the keyboard, called the n-dash since it takes up the same space as a letter n. Use theContinue reading “replace the short minus sign, raise the superscripts and lower the subscripts”

align [marks] to the right

At Southampton Exam Factory we do AQA GCSE, which puts [3 marks] at the end of a question, and OCR A level, which puts [3] at the end of a diagram question. Both are aligned right, but the Chemistry House style macro here justifies the document. So when I convert a question paper pdf toContinue reading “align [marks] to the right”

change text font in a text box

We had a colleague in the Chemistry Department, Laura End, who went off to teach in Malaysia. She generously left behind a large number of Chemistry resources but they were all in Clown font – Comic Sans. If you change the font of a document to Grown-Up font, Arial, it won’t change the contents ofContinue reading “change text font in a text box”

format all subscripts and superscripts with one click

Every year at Southampton Exam Factory we set our Year 12 students a project to write on an area of interest to them. The end results are wonderful in their scope and execution but why won’t they use the subscript and superscript buttons? It really grates on my nerves to see Pt(NH3)2Cl2 (sorry). My colleagueContinue reading “format all subscripts and superscripts with one click”

set up your Quick Access Toolbar

I have taught Chemistry for 102 years and, for several decades of that time, when making a new resource I have clicked on a button at the top of the screen to go to a new menu, then clicked on another button then finally clicked on yet another button to get the thing I want.Continue reading “set up your Quick Access Toolbar”

create a macro and add code to it

If you have the code for somebody’s macro and want to add the macro to your own list of macros do this: 1.       Click on Developer 2.       Click Macros 3.       Select the Normal template 4.       In the Macro Name box call the macro BigAl or whatever you want to call it (make sure the nameContinue reading “create a macro and add code to it”