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July 17, 2008
Molecules On Your iPod Or iPhone
Posted by Carmen Drahl on July 17, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere
For the benefit of the gadget geeks among C&ENtral Science’s readership, I’ve created a video walkthrough of Molecules 1.0, a new application for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. (Apple officially unlocked access to 3rd-party applications last week). Molecules is a visualization tool for 3-D structures. I used to work with programs like this during college, when I was an intern in an x-ray crystallography group.
This version of the software isn’t super-powerful, and doesn’t have all the features of a standard visualization program. I agree with the commenter here who thinks it would be neat to confer inertia on the molecules when rotating, so that they would keep spinning after you flick them (the iPod Touch does something like this when you scroll). But that aside, it’s still amazing to me that programs like Molecules, which I worked with on advanced computers, are now available for handheld devices.
The software is free and the developer’s website says that the source code will become available soon, for those who are interested in tinkering with the program themselves.
For brief reviews, see Wired Science and MacResearch.
**My video walkthrough may not be 100% comprehensive, so please let me know if I’ve left anything out.**
Your Vehicle: Now With Hydrogen!
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Posted by Carmen Drahl on July 17, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere, Where is C&EN?
I ran into this little number at a busy Dupont Circle intersection the other day. This sighting turned out to be a perfect example of how my chemistry training affects how I see the world. (Read this Newscripts column by Faith Hayden for another example of this concept). It also reminded me that I really need to start carrying a camera so that I can be prepared for impromptu blogging opportunities.
I was unaware that hydrogen-powered vehicles were already a reality. But what tipped me off to the fact that I was looking at a fuel-cell vehicle was not that the car clearly said “fuel cell” on it. No, I inferred that information from the paint job at the rear of the vehicle, where you’d normally pump gas into the tank. It’s emblazoned with iconic-looking ball-and-stick drawings in a “bent” configuration, which immediately made me think of water. From there, I reasoned that a car that could emit water would have to be powered by hydrogen… and… that’s when I saw the big “fuel cell” logo. Sigh.
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