APPLICATIONS OF AN INTERACTIVE VECTOR GRAPHICS SYSTEM TO CHEMISTRY

Abstract

This paper describes several applications to chemistry of a computer graphics equipment based on a mini-computer and an interactive vector graphics system. After a presentation of the hardware and software available, the following application programs are described and illustrated: (i) 3D visualization of molecular systems, with possible use of a windowing procedure for enlarging part of the structure; (ii) representation of dynamic processes in molecules; (iii) visualization of molecular properties derived from quantum chemical calculations. These applications, which fully exploit the potentialities of the relatively sophisticated equipment, have been developed in order to provide an adequate audio-visual support for teaching chemistry.