Submitted by Kevin Hoke / Berry College on Sat, 06/08/2019 - 22:44
My Notes
Description

This site is another excellent resource from Dean Johnston (see also his Symmetry resource).

Important Note: Part of this web resource has recently been replaced by a new site with a new URL. The previous version used JSmol and had some quirks with ion sizes, but this complete revision addresses those and has a much more robust "tutorial" style for students to work through solid state structural types.

The guided tutorial options help different aspects of solid state structure (unit cells, unit cell occupancy, layering, arrangement of ions, coordination number). In addition there are user adjustable Display Options that can be used to customize the visualization to some extent, such as changing the size of atoms and coloring the structure by layers.

Other portions of the website include resources for incorporating crystallography into the undergraduate curriculum.

Implementation Notes

Note: Student activities that referred to the old site will need revision to guide students through the same topics in the new site.

I use the "Structures and Unit Cells of Ionic Materials" visualization tool as part of a homework assignment in which the students are stepped through multiple models, starting with a simple primitive cubic unit cell and then moving up to ionic compounds such as NaCl and ZnS (both polymorph forms). The models displayed are very straightforward to manipulate and I would not worrying about having first-year students interact with them. I have not used the Space groups page yet, but it would be appropriate for students who are learning about crystallographic symmetry.

The site can be used in any modern web browser that supports HTML5 and/or Java. I have accessed models successfully on my iPhone, but doing so requires turning the phone sideways (landscape orientation), then minimizing and opening side panels to alternate between the instructions, the model selector, and the model itself. This will also need to be done on screens as large as the standard iPad, but it becomes easier to see where the panels are as screens get larger.

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Kevin Hoke / Berry College

I use this web resource in my foundations inorganic chemistry class. I also use ICE models, and both activities work really well to help students analyze unit cells (occupancy, layering, coordination number). The website for doing this analysis was greatly revised last summer, so any earlier homework activities may require revision.

Sat, 02/26/2022 - 11:51 Permalink