Writing Chemical equations using Word

Most have us have probably used ‘subscript’ and ‘superscript’ to write chemical equations if we are producing typed notes. However, it can leads to minor problems.

Say, for example you are trying to write the nitronium ion, it will probably come out as NO^₂+ . The ‘2’ and the ‘+’ will not be directly above and below each other. The other problem that you will come across is how to write fractions.

Well, there is a ‘free’ (you can download a free trial) piece of software called mathtype that can be used to get everything as it should be. It is quick to download and after about 10 minutes playing around with it, the average chemist should find they have found out how to do everything they always wanted to do when word processing Chemistry documents!

Enjoy!