ChemLab

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffApril 20, 2011With this virtual laboratory, you can run experiments without fear of chemical burns or glass breakage. ChemLab comes with seven preloaded experiments, as well as a free-form mode. The Introduction and Procedure tabs in the left-hand window tell you what the experiment proves and how to perform it. The Observations tab lets you record your data. The interface provides buttons for the most common pieces of equipment and chemicals, but we preferred using the right-click context menu. You can save your work as LAB files to reopen later. Printing will print the Observations tab and the main experiment window. The Lab wizard lets you build your own experiments by setting the chemicals, reactions, and expected outcomes. It takes a lot of chemistry knowledge to build your own experiment, and we had to refer to the help file to figure out how to perform certain actions during the preloaded experiments. The accuracy of reactions makes ChemLab educational for high school students, but the interface and ability to go off-book make it fun.