Methane Molecule
Methane is odourless, colourless and flammable and is usually used as a fuel to make heat, light and electricity. It is a molecule which consists of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. It is used in the greenhouse gas industry where methane is used to help create electricity and heat. Methane gas is collected from landfills of manure and waste. When the trash decomposes, methane gas rises to the top of the landfill where it is collected by pipes. The methane is then stored and will be burned to produce heat or generate electricity. Methane is generally produced from landfills, livestock farming, and use of fossil fuels. Methane levels have doubled since the Industrial revolution.
The four hydrogen atoms all surround the carbon atom to make it the methane molecule. One of the hydrogen atoms is vertically on the top of the carbon atom. The second hydrogen is horizontal to the carbon and the third hydrogen is 109° clockwise from the second hydrogen atom and the fourth hydrogen atom is another 109° from the third hydrogen atom.
This workshop was quite interesting because it combined math, programming and science into one. I do not think that this program helped me to understand the methane molecule properly as learning about what it does, where it is used, what its made of etc. would teach me a lot more than just building a molecule from shapes. One thing I found quite difficult was to repeat the same command multiple times but with different angles and numbers. It would be easier if there was a way that simple commands could be quickly inserted without having to type up a command multiple times. I found it interesting to use the software using three axis plaines even though it was quite difficult to understand at first.
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