Category Archives: Chemistry

February 24, 2014 · 10:34 pm

Inorganic Acids, Polyatomic Ions and Potassium Nitrate

My new app is called Inorganic Acids, Polyatomic Ions and Potassium Nitrate. Hopefully, it will be useful for everyone who studies inorganic chemistry.

The English description:

Learn names and formulas of all important inorganic acids, polyatomic ions and their salts. An app is suitable for everyone: from high school students to chemistry professors.
Take a quiz or use the table as a reference.

* 70+ inorganic acids: from Sulfuric H2SO4 to Hydrazoic HN3
* 50+ anions and cations: from Chloride Cl– to Hydrazinium N2H5+
* 50+ salts: from Potassium nitrate KNO3 to Ammonium hexachloroplatinate (NH4)2PtCl6

*****

New features:
– Table prepared with iOS standard elements
– Rate App button
– New smaller Open / Remove Letters buttons
– The app icon resembles a safety diamond (shows how dangerous a particular chemical compound is)
– Entering chemical formulas as answers. I even didn’t use subscripts, because in the Georgia fonts, digits are already smaller than letters.
– “Acidic” colors are used in design
– Only first 2 modes and a table are available for free. Six others modes can be purchased just for $0.99 together with removing the ads banner.

3. Acknowledgements:
icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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February 16, 2014 · 11:04 pm

Hydrocarbons 1.1

The new version of the Hydrocarbons app has been approved after 6 days of waiting and just 1 min of reviewing.

The major reason of the update was to add “promo nodes” (links after questions) to my recent apps. I moved the “Watch Ads” button from the Settings to the game as well, though it seems that the whole idea with interstitial screen ads doesn’t pay off in my case. There are several minor fixes in chemical formulas in their style or sizes. In the main menu, I highlighted that two locked modes (“Dienes & Polyenes” and “Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons”) can be unlocked (= bought) in Settings. The word “Buy” near an inactive button was a bit confusing. The letter keys were made bigger in case of iPhone/iPod. The sounds of correct letters now grow in their pitch which is not as monotonous as it was in 1.0.

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February 9, 2014 · 8:09 pm

Heterocyclic Compounds

My third chemical app – Heterocyclic Compounds.

The English description:

Heterocycles are parts of:
* Biomolecules (nucleic bases in your DNA and RNA; amino acids Histidine and Tryptophan)
* Important drugs (80% of top-selling drugs contain heterocycles: benzodiazepines, quinine, penicillin, etc.)
* and even Food (sugar has heterocyclic rings too!)

That’s why it’s so useful to know the structures of major heterocyclic compounds for molecular biologists, pharmacists, organic chemists and for general public interested in what the stuff is made from.

This app is the unique place to learn the structures and names of 80+ heterocycles.

* Entertaining letter quiz ‘Structure – Name’
* Nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur heterocycles
* Everything from Purine to Pyridine

*****

1. This app has a bit aggressive “watermelon” design and its goal is not only to teach millions of iOS users about heterocyclic structures but also test the simplest possible “letter quiz” model. There is one linear mode. No flashcards, no tables. The IAP just removes the ad banner.

The review time now is slightly longer than 1 week.

2. Features:
– One linear mode of 81 heterocycles with random questions after finishing the whole sequence
– English and Russian localizations
– Games – Educational / Word category

3. Acknowledgements:
icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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February 6, 2014 · 9:13 pm

Amino Acids Structures and Names

My second chemical app Amino Acids Structures and Names was approved less than in one week after the first one about Hydrocarbons. This time there have been no problems during the submission / review process at all.

The English description of the app:

Do you know the chemical formula of glycine?
Btw, the knowledge of structures and names of amino acids – building blocks of proteins and peptides – are important not only for chemists, but also for biologists, pharmacists, and just for everyone studying science and/or medicine. This app is the easiest and the most efficient way to learn the structures, codes, and properties of 20 standard amino acids and 14 related compounds.

*****

* ‘Structure – Name’ Quiz
* Flashcards – Rate each card to adjust to your level of knowledge
* All 22 proteinogenic Amino Acids (20 standard + Selenocysteine and Pyrrolysine)
* Colorful structural formulas
* Three- and One-letter codes (abbreviations)
* Isoelectric points (pI)
* Essential Amino Acids
* Polar and Hydrophobic Amino Acids
* Unnatural Amino Acids such as D-Alanine
* Dipeptides such as Aspartame*

*****

It is a perfect app for everyone studying:

* Biochemistry
* Organic Chemistry
* Molecular Biology


*****

New features:
– It can be also called my first biochemical app.
– Flashcards mode – the player sees a formula or a name of an amino acid, tries to remember what’s the missing info is, checks “Show an Answer” and finally rates how well he/she knows this particular amino acid (from 1 – not at all – to 5 – very well). The probability of this card to be shown again depends on this rating.
– The IAP is associated with flashcards. There are 34 compounds in the app and only 10 cards are available for free. To get them all, one has to buy “All flashcards & Remove Ads”.
– “Promo buttons”:
a) instead of the “More Games” list in Settings, I have a direct link to Hydrocarbons and other apps from the game. The button shows up after answers to certain questions.
b) The button “Watch Ads” was moved from Settings to the game as well. It shows an AdMob interstitial, gives hints for this, and disappears.
– So far it was localized only to English and Russian but I do have plans to add at least German, Spanish, and Italian in future updates.
– I may called it “a game” but it’s my first app in the Education category.

3. Acknowledgements:
icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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January 31, 2014 · 6:15 pm

Hydrocarbon Chemical Formula

Word World

My first chemistry app Hydrocarbon Formula has been approved and is on the App Store. I plan this to be a start of a series of apps based on the model “Letter Quiz” where the player sees a picture or a formula and has to build its name from the given letters. There will be both chemical and non-chemical quizzes.

The English description of the game is the following:

This application is essential for students learning the basics of organic chemistry, for teachers, graduate students and professionals checking their knowledge of the subject. There are more than 175 structural formulas: fun to guess – easy to remember. Hydrocarbons are the most fundamental class of organic compounds, so it is very important to know their chemical names.

Questions are logically divided into 6 topics covering all possible hydrocarbons. Begin with crucial structures such as methane CH4, benzene C6H6, and octane C8H18 and then proceed to advance topics learning about benzopyrene C20H12 and cubane C8H8. In each question, guess the name of the hydrocarbon or use the hints.

The compound database is prepared by a PhD chemist. 178 structures and names of:

* Alkanes
* Cycloalkanes
* Alkenes / Alkynes
* Dienes, and Polyenes
* Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Arenes)
* Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

***

1. This app was twice rejected because of too-long name (the reviewer asked to move all those “dienes, polyenes” to keywords) and because of failed (?) in-app-purchase. According to the attached screenshot, the IAP did work. So I wrote a letter to the Resolution Center and the app was quickly approved without any additional comments on their side or actions on my side.

2. New features are:
– “Watch Ads” button showing an AdMob interstitial and giving the player 20 hints
– Send an email to the author (asmolgam@gmail.com) button in the app
– 40 hints are given for sharing the info about the app on Twitter or Facebook
– Localization to 5 languages besides English and Russian: German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

3. Acknowledgements: icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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