Projects
Crystal Web/Atomic Control
Principal Investigator: Professor W. Craig Carter
Currently there a few online resources devoted to teaching materials science. An important component of teaching websites are visualization tools. This project has a goal to produce usable visualizations for key materials science concepts that include crystallography and x-ray diffraction.
Viewing 3D crystal structure is important in understanding symmetries and properties inherent in the crystal phase. It is often rather difficult to understand and visualize the full three-dimensional structure of these crystals when drawn on paper or shown as a static image on a computer screen. Three-Dimensional rotation of the object is key to this understanding. Normally this is achieved through physical ball-and-stick models, but these are not accessible to all. A web-based 3D rotateable model would allow the same manipulation, but provide access to all with basic Internet access.
In this project we have implemented a java-applet that will allow mouse manipulation of many basic crystal structures. In addition, a more powerful stand-alone version of this software has been created to allow users to create their own crystal visualizations.
