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Excel Molar Mass Calculator - Molecular Weight

3.50/5 (8 votes)
8 Mar 2020CPOL1 min read 39K   1.2K  
Excel, Pure VBA Macro: Molecular Weight/Molecular Mass Calculator
In this article, we will explain how to write a pure Excel VBA macro to calculate Molecular Weight or Molecular Mass Calculator of a chemical formula. We go over how we store elements masses in a normal VBA keyed collection. The calculation is done via pure VB code without any additional reference or library with extremely simple code.

Introduction

What is Molecular Mass

Molecular mass or molecular weight is the mass of a molecule. It is calculated as the sum of the atomic masses of each constituent element or group of elements multiplied by the number of it in the molecular formula.

Some formulas are quite simple CaCO3 but there are complex formulas such as Co3[Fe(CN)6]2.4NH3.6H2 and some organic compound is much complex.

Calculating Molar Mass

In this article, we will explain how to write a pure Excel VBA macro to calculate Molecular Weight or Molecular Mass Calculator of a chemical formula.

The calculation is done via pure VB code without any additional reference or library with extremely simple code.
Error handler and line numbering is added to simplify debugging the code.

Using the Code

Download and open Excel file and edit it as needed. The mass will be updated once the formula changes to calculate a formula in a cell, just type something like this =MW("CaCO3").

Formula Molecular Weight
CuSO4 159.6
CaCO3 100.1
Co3[Fe(CN)6]2 . 4NH3 . 6H2O 776.9
2Na2CO3 . 3H2O2 314.0
Na2CO3 . 1.5H2O2 157.0
NaBO2 . H2O2 . 3H2O 153.9

How It Works

First of all, we store elements masses in a normal VBA keyed collection.

VBScript
Private Sub SetAtomicMass()
        On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
1:      Call Masses.Add(1.00794!, "H")
2:      Call Masses.Add(4.002602!, "He")
3:      Call Masses.Add(6.941!, "Li")
4:      Call Masses.Add(9.012182!, "Be")
5:      Call Masses.Add(10.811!, "B")
Rem and so on to
118:    Call Masses.Add(294, "Og")
        Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
        Debug.Print ("Error in: MMW.SetAtomicMass." & Erl & vbNewLine & Err.Description)
        Debug.Assert (False)
        Call MsgBox("Error in: MMW.SetAtomicMass." & Erl & vbNewLine & Err.Description)
End Sub

To calculate mass of NaBO2 . H2O2 . 3H2O, we split it into part, NaBO2 , H2O2 , 3H2O.
We split each part like H2O into groups H2 and O.
Calculate the mass of each group and add them together to get the total mass.

VBScript
Parts = Split(GetParts(Formula), ", ")
For Each Part In Parts
    PartCount = GetPartCount(Part)
    PartSymbol = GetPartSymbol(Part)
    PartMass = 0
    Groups = Split(GetGroups(PartSymbol), ", ")
    For Each Group In Groups
        GroupCount = GetGroupCount(Group)
        GroupSymbol = GetGroupSymbol(Group)
        SymbolMass = GetSymbolMass(GroupSymbol)
        If SymbolMass = 0 Then
            MolecularWeight = 0
            Exit Function
        End If
        GroupMass = GroupCount * SymbolMass
        PartMass = PartMass + GroupMass
    Next
    PartMass = PartCount * PartMass
    Mass = Mass + PartMass
Next
MolecularWeight = Mass

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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)