The Orbitron

The presentation of the information makes "The Orbitron" easy to use and understand. The different colors on the orbital make it simple to view the various parts. Also, the ability to make the orbital interactive allows the user to rotate and study the orbital shape. The scientific notation for naming the orbitals is also beneficial because it gives the shapes meaning. Furthermore, the available animation shows how bonding occurs in nature between the orbitals. "The Orbitron" is a helpful tool that can be applied to chemistry at the high school and college level. Professors can use it to show students orbital shape and orientation. The information provided about the orbitals is accurate. The only limiting factor with this tool is that it will not fully run without Macromedia Flash. The webpage can be used as an interactive lead in or a segment of a lesson.

Among the information given is a description of the orbital and how many orbitals there are in each specific energy level. For example it says that the d orbital contains five different orbitals. It also goes onto display and name the shape of the five orbitals. In addition, the shapes of the orbital are displayed on an x, y, z plane. This allows the user to see that the orbitals are three dimensional. Furthermore, each component of the orbital is differentiated by using different colors. Also, some of the more advanced orbital arrangements have animations that accompany the orbital picture. These animations can not be controlled by the user and run continuously. The orbitals that can be viewed are selected from an on screen list that are broken down by Level (1-7), Hybrid orbitals, and Molecular orbitals. All of the information provided is accurate and the orbital shapes and notation is correct. The pictures and animations of the orbital also appear to be accurate of how the orbital should appear.

"The Orbitron" was created by Dr. Mark J. Winter as a gallery of atomic orbital and molecular orbital images constructed using POV-Ray. Contributions to the site were made by Prof. Barry Pickup, Dr. Martin Grayson, and Dr. David Cook. Additionally, the webpage was published by the Chemistry Department at the University of Sheffield. The operating system used while running the applet was Microsoft Windows XP Professional. Using the Internet Explorer browser, users can view orbitals, but without Macromedia Flash they are not interactive. Mozilla Firefox requires users to have the Macromedia Flash before using the tool. When using Mozilla Firefox without the plug-in, users cannot view the orbitals. On the site, http://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/, the orbital viewer is easy to use. Information that can be found on the webpage is information regarding orbital shape, arrangement, and interior composition. In addition, a picture accompanies each orbital that shows a cross section or inner workings of the orbital. With the appropriate plug-ins, the pictures of the orbitals can become interactive.