Backside Attack is an app, by Element26, created for use by undergraduate students undertaking their first steps in organic chemistry. Although educational, the app is also very enjoyable to play through the different levels. Each level has a different mechanism with various activities for the user, with an explanation upon completion.
Goal:
Backside Attack is an arrow-pushing mechanism app, focussed on the SN2 reaction. No prior knowledge is necessary as it teaches you everything as you go along! Four kinds of mechanisms are assessed: leaving groups, nucleophiles, steric effects and solvent effects. We found these give quite a complete look into the SN2 reaction.
Experience:
Backside Attack is a very fun and educational game! There are a lot of activities for the user to go through, allowing the user to be a very active part of each 'reaction'. Each mechanism has one or more goals which the user needs to complete. In each level, a new molecule is formed. Each step is a different goal, including the addition. Upon completion, a score is given dependant on how well the user performed each action and how fast it took them to complete. To gain more points, the user can read the explanation to why each reaction works and complete a bonus question. The app therefore has a lot of incentive to perform each action well, quickly and to learn more about each mechanism.
Graphics:
The app is very colourful with fun activities for the user. The activities include dragging a molecule to 'catapult' it into a solution. Once in the solution, the actual mechanism is performed. All activities run smoothly and are very colourful. The only negative factor is that once the explanation for the mechanism is on-screen, the explanation is a bit block of text in a completely different font as the rest of the app. At this point it is also completely black and white, making this part of the app very unappealing.
Price:
The app is completely free, making it very accessible to all students wanting to learn basic chemical mechanisms.
Accessibility:
The app can only be downloaded on iOS.
Rating:
We rate this app 4.5/5.
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