Coordination Chemistry Lab

Coordination Chemistry – Crystal Field Theory Online

Coordination chemistry describes bonding between central metal ions and surrounding ligands. This simulation lets you assemble metal-ligand complexes, apply crystal field theory to explain d-orbital splitting, and predict color and magnetic properties. Ligand field strength and complex geometry (octahedral, tetrahedral, square planar) are the key variables explored.

What you can do in this simulation

• Select a transition metal and oxidation state, then add ligands to form complexes
• Observe crystal field splitting (Δo) and how spectrochemical series position affects it
• Predict high-spin vs. low-spin configurations based on field strength and electron count
• Relate d-orbital splitting energy to the color of light absorbed by the complex
• Change geometry between octahedral, tetrahedral, and square planar to see splitting shift

Concepts covered

crystal field theory · d-orbital splitting · spectrochemical series · ligand field strength · high-spin vs. low-spin · coordination number

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