Molecular
Models
To properly picture chemistry at the molecular level, you need to have
a good sense of what molecules look like. One way to develop the
ability to visualize molecular geometries is through the use of models.
The pages below contain links which will let you download software for
viewing molecular structures on the computer. Two programs are provided:
Chime and RasMol. Both are freely distributed. Of the two,
Chime is my favorite. It is a plug-in for Netscape that lets you
see and manipulate molecular models embedded in a web page. Using
this feature, we have prepared a series of pages showing how to deduce
the shapes of molecules, complete with models of all the common shapes.
The only drawback of Chime is that you may not be able to install it if
you are working on a public computer on campus. (I will try to get
it installed on the machines in the LRC in the basement of Heldenfels.)
The second program, RasMol, is just a viewer for chemical structures.
We have provided a series of links that will let you download structure
files for various molecules. To view the structures with RasMol,
you will need to leave the browser and open RasMol. The advantage
to this is that RasMol is small enough to fit on a floppy disk, so you
should be able to download it and run it on any computer. (Also,
many computers in campus labs have RasMol installed.) In either case,
the software should help you to become familiar with the shapes.
Hope you enjoy it....
Download the Software
Tutorials
Common Molecular Geometries