Last edited 9dec14 by Patrick Regan (ppregan2@illinois.edu)
Forcing Chemistry: Comparing Intermolecular Forces of Molecules
by Patrick Regan
Abstract
Molecules come in varying shapes, sizes, and compositions. Consequently, different molecules will exercise different properties. One of the most interesting properties of molecules is the intermolecular forces between molecules of the same type and how they govern the behavior of large groups of these molecules.
This project is aimed at comparing the behavior of two molecules that are similar in structure but have different properties. We use a model in VPython to accomplish this. Comparing these forces with great volumes of molecules is incredibly difficult and complex, so this program seeks to show the energy of the intermolecular forces between just two molecules. We first outline some of the background information for intermolecular forces. Then we state some of the goals that we are trying to be accomplished in this project.
Project Goals
- Create an accurate representation of some molecules including
methane and bromomethane in this animated gif shows the final result
- Create arrows/vectors to represent the dipole moment of molecules
- Create a program that shows the difference in the intermolecular forces between the two molecules
Documents
Coding
The coding for this project was done in Python 2.7 and consequently may not work in other versions of Python. It requires the availability of the __future__, visual, visual.graph, and math libraries. The code itself will not be published online; however, if the code is sought, send an email to ppregan2@illinois.edu.
