Overview

In this tutorial, students create simple molecules such as water, potassium iodide and lead nitrate, and show how they interact in a double displacement reaction. For advanced students who want to experiment with MAX's advanced animation and materials, additional tutorials show how to create the illusion of chemicals pouring into a beaker of water and precipitating out.

Subject - Chemistry (and Math) SciVis - 3D modeling with primitives, creating scale models, coordinate systems, spatial relations.

Hardware Tools: A pentium-class PC capable of running 3D Studio MAX. Recommended: 128 - 256 MB RAM, 200 MHz or faster

Software Tools:

• 3D Studio MAX 3 or 3.1. May also be adapted to MAX 2 or 2.5.
• Optional: an image editing program to create the labels.

Teacher Background: The geometry of molecules helps to explain many of their chemical and biological properties. A two dimensional model is often inadequate to explain these properties but it is difficult for student using only paper and pencil to grasp the three dimensional nature of molecules. In this project students will gain experience translating a physical model and scientific data into a 3D computer model. This project will also give students experience in the precise placement of objects. Estimated time to develop this activity is 120 hours.