Visualization of Crystalline Structures Using MAGE

This work has recently been published in the online journal The Chemical Educator (Vol. 2, No. 3). The supporting files may be downloaded individually or as packages using the links below.

What does the MAGE software look like?

What equipment do you need?

  1. A computer (any flavor - Mac, PC, or UNIX)
  2. A network connection (not absolutely necessary, but you are here, aren't you?)
  3. The MAGE program. This program is available from the Protein Science web page. Detailed instructions are also available for configuring your web browser to automatically use MAGE.
  4. The MAGE input files (modules) listed below.
  5. The Solid State Model Kit from the Institute for Chemical Education is highly recommended, though not at all required.

Why I like MAGE (especially for viewing crystalline structures):

  1. It's FREE!
  2. Input is in the form of readily prepared ASCII text files
  3. Structures (even large ones) can be rapidly rotated
  4. Predefined atom "groups" can be selectively turned on and off (good for layers, anions, cations, etc.)
  5. Predefined viewing angles (under the VIEW menu) can be selected to emphasize layers or symmetry
  6. Pseudo-animations can display a series of images to illustrate certain concepts (like sharing of lattice points)
What material is available? Here is a brief description of each of the modules (files) I have prepared:

Individual tutorial modules*
unitcell.kin A tutorial on different types of unit cells and the importance of lattice-point sharing. Several pseudo-animations show the construction of larger lattices from several unit cells
clospack.kin Contains spacefill and ball & stick images of both hexagonal and cubic closepacked arrays, emphasizing AB and ABC layers
holes.kin Contains pseudo-animations illustrating filling of tetrahedral, octahedral, and cubic holes

Individual example modules*
tetfill.kin Structures based on filling of tetrahedral holes
octfill.kin Structures based on filling of octahedral holes
cubic.kin Structures based on cubic lattices and filling of cubic holes
silicate.kin Common structural themes found in silicate structures (SiO4 tetrahedra sharing vertices)
complex.kin Larger and more complex structures such as spinel, alumina, etc.
bravais.kin The 14 Bravais lattices illustrated as ball & stick models

* these individual modules may be downloaded (using Netscape or Internet Explorer) by holding down the shift key while clicking on each of the hyperlinks above.

MAGE module packages
Windows 3.1/95
   magefile.zip (44 K) all the individual modules listed above in ".zip" format
   magehtml.zip (44 K) an example HTML page w/supporting files in ".zip" format
Macintosh
   magefile.sea.hqx (92K) all the individual modules listed above as a binhexed self-extracting file
   magehtml.sea.hqx (92 K) an example HTML page w/supporting files as a binhexed self-extracting file

MAGE documentation files
   magetut.doc (246 K) A quick MAGE tutorial in Word 6.0/95 format

Questions? Please E-Mail me at djohnston@otterbein.edu