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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1997  > July  >
In the Classroom
Use of Pom Pons To Illustrate Cubic Crystal Structures
Susan G. Cady
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Arkansas State University, P.O. Box 419, State University, AR 72467-0419
Cover
July 1997
Vol. 74 No. 7
p. 794
Abstract
In general chemistry classes, students are introduced to the ways in which atoms are arranged in cubic crystal structures. Transposing the textbook illustrations into three dimensional structures is difficult for some students. This transitions is easier if a three dimensional model is available for examination. Several 3D models are cited. A quick to assemble, inexpensive, colorful, and durable alternative to these models and styrofoam balls is the use of olefin pom pons. Different sized pom pons can be used to demonstrate how the atomic radius will vary when comparing the different types of cubic crystal unit cells. Being made of a coarse material, pom pons can be stacked to illustrate different packing arrangements such as hexagonal close-packed and cubic close-packed structures. Pom pons make great atoms.
More Information
*  Citation
 Cady, Susan G. J. Chem. Educ. 1997 74 794.
*  Keywords
 Demonstrations, Introductory/High School Chemistry, Teaching/Learning Aids, Molecular Properties/Structure, Crystallography
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 July 28, 1999
June 23, 2005
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