Make Methane molecule

In this lab you will make a methane molecule out of atoms. You will also be able to switch between different molecule representations: a ball and stick, space filling, and structural.

This lesson is a part of MEL VR Science Simulations. Learn more →

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Transcript

Wel­come to the MEL Sci­ence mol­e­cule con­struc­tor.

To­day we will learn how to build mol­e­cules by build­ing a meth­ane mol­e­cule.

Here is it's struc­tural for­mu­la. Let's look at how to build the same mol­e­cule in the con­struc­tor.

First, you need to se­lect a car­bon atom from the pe­ri­od­ic ta­ble. And add it to your mol­e­cule by click­ing on the emp­ty space in front of you.

Now we are go­ing to add four Hy­dro­gen atoms. Once the Hy­dro­gen is se­lect­ed in the pe­ri­od­ic ta­ble you can add as many atoms as you want. For meth­ane, we need only four of them.

This is how your mol­e­cule should look like for the As­sem­ble but­ton to be­come avail­able. If you make a mis­take you can re­move an atom us­ing the cor­re­spond­ing but­ton.

Or start from square one by re­mov­ing all of them with the Clear but­ton. You can watch this tu­to­ri­al again at any time by press­ing the Tu­to­ri­al but­ton.

Now build a meth­ane-like mol­e­cule and click the As­sem­ble but­ton to con­tin­ue the les­son.

Great! Af­ter you press the As­sem­ble but­ton, you will see a ball and stick mod­el of the mol­e­cule.

You can change it to a space-fill­ing mod­el, struc­tural or skele­tal for­mu­la.

You will re­turn to con­struc­tion mode if you click on the pe­ri­od­ic ta­ble, or the Re­move atom or Edit bond but­ton.

But in this Lab, they will be dis­abled. Af­ter check­ing out dif­fer­ent molec­u­lar rep­re­sen­ta­tions you can fin­ish this Lab by press­ing the Exit but­ton.