Ball-and-stick model

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
 
<p>In 1865, German chemist <a href="/facts/August_Wilhelm_von_Hofmann/QuQl6xMy">August Wilhelm von Hofmann</a> was the first to make ball-and-stick molecular models. He used such models in lecture at the <a href="/facts/Royal_Institution_of_Great_Britain/6uT4MCUV">Royal Institution of Great Britain</a>.
</p><p>Specialist companies manufacture kits and models to order. One of the earlier companies was Woosters at <a href="/facts/Bottisham/7UvUyCnA">Bottisham</a>, <a href="/facts/Cambridgeshire/CRuIWvVN">Cambridgeshire</a>, UK. Besides tetrahedral, trigonal and octahedral holes, there were all-purpose balls with 24 holes. These models allowed rotation about the single rod bonds, which could be both an advantage (showing molecular flexibility) and a disadvantage (models are floppy). The approximate scale was 5 cm per <a href="/facts/%25C3%2585ngstr%25C3%25B6m/T5mjdd97">ångström</a> (0.5 m/nm or 500,000,000:1), but was not consistent over all elements.
</p><p>The Beeverses Miniature Models company in <a href="/facts/Edinburgh/PcsoaK9h">Edinburgh</a> (now operating as Miramodus) produced small models beginning in 1961<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> using <a href="/facts/Poly(methyl_methacrylate)/CnCRBo5F">PMMA</a> balls and <a href="/facts/Stainless_steel/IDdo8bEx">stainless steel</a> rods.  In these models, the use of individually drilled balls with precise bond angles and bond lengths enabled large crystal structures to be accurately created in a light and rigid form.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ball-and-stick models.

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Structural_formula/XRTmvINB">structural formula</a> – Graphic representation of a molecular structure</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Turner M (1971). "Ball and stick models for organic chemistry". Journal of Chemical Education. 48 (6): 407. Bibcode:1971JChEd..48..407T. doi:10.1021/ed048p407. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Olmsted J, Williams GM (1997). Chemistry: The Molecular Science. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8151-8450-8. <a href="978-0-8151-8450-8" target="_blank">978-0-8151-8450-8</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"(Cecil) Arnold Beevers". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 29 November 2017. <a href="http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst3381.html" target="_blank">http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst3381.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Ball-and-stick model open-in-new

Ball-and-stick model