Primary Data Resources

The vast majority of physical and chemical property data is produced and published by institutions other than NIST. These data are widely distributed, typically have ill-defined formats, and often are inadequately specified in terms of quality. The Division produces information from these resources through the process of collection, validation, critical evaluation, and creation/distribution of user adapted high quality databases. The value added by creation of such databases is enormous:

the information is easily located and readily adapted for any application;
easy access to reliable data eliminates needless measurement or redundant data collection and evaluation both of which are extremely expensive;
the information can serve a wide variety of user communities on a continuing basis with minimal added investment;
and, of course, the information itself enables effective, efficient product and process design, supports competitive manufacturing, and facilitates progress in important national programs.

The Division provides a wide range of on-line data support, the most well known is:

NIST Chemistry WebBook
Currently the WebBook contents (~70,000 Total species) with information such as:

Data Type	Number of Species
Gas phase thermochemical data	6,700+
Condensed phase thermodynamic data	6,600+
Phase change thermodynamic data	13,800+
Reaction thermodynamic data	9,000+
Gas phase ion energetics data	17,500+
Gas phase ion cluster data	1,400+
IR spectrum	16,000+
THz IR spectrum	33
Mass spectrum	15,000+
UV/Vis spectrum	1,600+
Vibrational & electronic energy levels	5,000+
Constants of diatomic molecules	600+
Fluid property data	74
Gas chromatography data	27,000+

The NIST Chemistry WebBook has been awarded "Best Chemistry Site on the Web - Portals and Information Hubs" by ChemIndustry.com Inc., John Wiley and Sons, Inc. and the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. The WebBook is second in total use among chemistry database web sites (only the Chemical Abstracts site has higher usage) and over 2,500 sites directly link to the WebBook, including essentially every technical library in the world.

Other important resources on-line include:

NIST Gas Phase Chemical Kinetics
Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database
Cryogenic Material Properties
NDRL/NIST Solution Kinetics
ChemRate: A Calculational Database for Unimolecular Reaction
CKMech (Chemical Kinetic Mechanisms)
NIST/TRC Ionic Liquids Database

The Division also regularly produces and updates a variety of reference data products. Perhaps the most familiar are:

NIST/EPA/NIH Mass Spectral Library: with Search Software NIST '02
NIST REFPROP 8 (Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties) Database
NIST/ASME Steam Database
NIST/TRC Ideal Gas Database
NIST Chemical Kinetics Database: Version 2Q98
NIST Thermophysical and Transport Properties of Hydrocarbon Mixtures
NIST/ThermoData Engine

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Last modified: 29 February 2000