SK185 - Molecular Model Kit

OK, i'll admit that I was a little excited about actually getting a kit with this course. The last kit I got was a programming board for T223 back in 1998 and it really made me feel like a proper student.

The kit comes in a plastic case which is very handy for keeping everything together, although it would have been nice to have a catch on it to stop the lid from inadvertently coming off in my bag.

The contents of the box are shown above.

• The white balls have 1 hole in them and are used to represent hydrogen.
• The black balls have 4 holes in them and are used to represent carbon.
• The blue balls have 4 holes in them and are used to represent nitrogen.
• The yellow balls have 2 holes in them and are used to represent sulfur.
• The red balls have 2 holes in them and are used to represent oxygen.
• The green balls have 2 holes in them and are used to represent other atoms.
• The grey rods represent bonds.
• The purple rods are longer and are used to create double bonds.

The piece of cream plastic in the middle of the picture is used to separate bonds from the atoms as the grey bonds are quite short and the holes in the atoms are very tight.


The first thing you notice is that it is very difficult to get a bond to fit into a hole. Once they have been fitted a couple of times they fit in much easier. The same for when you have to take a molecule apart, which leads to very sore fingers very quickly. However once the kit has been broken in it is much easier to use.


Overall I love this kit. Its easy to use and makes visualising structures very easy.