In high school, chemistry had always fascinated me because of the interesting pathways it offered. I preferred molecular chemistry as it involved lots of hands-on practical experiments where we could mix substances, or even extract solids from aqueous solutions. The purpose behind the Magnetic Atoms is to provide new, or existing student with a better perspective of molecular geometry. Traditionally, molecules have been represented using the ball and stick model, however, this doesn’t accurately reflect the true nature of electrons and their significance in the complex bonds between atoms.

I used Tinkercad to design the models. I chose a cube-like design for the atoms and scaled them to various sizes. Each atom is easily recognizable by the letter indentation on each face. During the development phase, I learnt that the aligning of various objects were most challenging because I wanted to keep everything uniform and consistent.

As this is the first prototype, I still have room for improvement when designing the magnet slot. Because I left 1mm extra spacing, I wrapped the magnet with sticky tape so it didn’t fall out. This negatively impacted the magnetism and thus reduced the efficiency. I am looking into another design now 😊

Designed by Kieren Albuquerque (Feb, 2021)