MoleculeFactory

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Pick atoms or open Library

Drag to spin · pinch to zoom

How to build here — then a few chemistry ideas the 3D stage makes real.

Library — pick a category chip or search, tap a molecule, watch it assemble in 3D. Type a letter to jump to best name matches (a → Acetaminophen, Adenine…).
Element rail — swipe the table, tap an element to place it. First atom sits at the center. Each tile shows Z, symbol, name, and room-temp state (gas / liquid / solid / ?).
Open sites — glowing ghosts show where the next atom can bond. Tap a ghost or tap the element again to auto-place.
Spin & zoom — drag to tumble freely; pinch to zoom.
Undo — in free-build, tap the last chip in the ingredient tray to remove the last atom. Library molecules keep the tray locked (Clear or start building to edit).
Clear — wipe the stage and start fresh.

Atoms & bonds — atoms are the balls; bonds are the sticks. A molecule is a connected pattern of both.
Valence — how many bonds an element “wants.” Oxygen usually wants 2, carbon 4, hydrogen 1. Gray tiles mean that element can’t attach right now.
Shapes — water bends (~104.5°), methane is tetrahedral, boron trifluoride is flat. The free-build tries to follow those textbook angles.
Covalent vs ionic — shared electrons (water, caffeine) vs charged partners (table salt). The library tags both.
Names & stories — free-build keeps a live name when it can; library cards add discovery year, place, and a short hook to teach and inspire.
States on the rail — gas, liquid, and solid are room-temperature teaching labels; ? means we don’t have a settled everyday state (superheavy odds and ends).

Build water: O, then H, then H — watch the bent shape.
Open Library → Everyday & kitchen and assemble caffeine, vanillin, or citric acid.
Open Library → Body & medicine and assemble adrenaline or the DNA helix.
Open Library → Amino acids and walk the twenty protein letters — glycine to tryptophan.
Open Library → Sugars and walk from glyceraldehyde to amylose and cellulose snippets.
In Everyday, play Structured water — a hydrogen-bonded hexagon labeled (H₂O)₆, not H₃O₂.
Swipe the rail past Oganesson to find mythical Unobtainium (Uo, Z 119) — an element, not a library molecule.
Spin the art pieces: cubane, C₆₀, porphyrin, cholesterol, or an 11-base-pair DNA helix snippet.
Free-build nonsense like HB₁₁ — the app allows it; chemistry may not. That’s the lesson.