Building Atoms

Your teacher has created a new SMART Board notebook that allows you to build atoms from the bottom up by stacking orbitals. If you are interested in trying it, download the file aufbau.notebook to your computer, and open it with SMART Notebook Express. SMART Notebook Express does not quite have all the functionality needed to expand the images, but keep checking -- their website says they are upgrading it all the time.

If you want to explore the shapes of orbitals, check out the free Orbital Viewer software. It's fun to play with the atom parameters and see all the different shapes the orbitals can take.

ChemSpider

ChemSpider is a free web site that allows you to look up the chemical structure of countless molecules. Check it out! Search a molecule of you choice, and the site will show you the molecular structure in two dimensions. Click on the 3D tab, and it opens a new window with the structure in three dimensions! Use your mouse to rotate the structure and get a better look from any angle. Right-click on the 3D image for more options.

Check out this 3D structure of testosterone.

Models of the Atom

The idea of the atom has a long history. Enjoy this podcast for a brief overview of the development of the model of the atom from the time of the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus to today. See images of the key scientists involved in the development of the model, as well as images of the shapes of some representative atomic orbitals.

Image credits can be found in the lesson plan for this podcast. Texts of the abridged script and full script are also available.