Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Choose a color to represent each of the three elements present in isopropyl alcohol. By convention, chemists generally use black for carbon, white for hydrogen and red for oxygen. If you don't have these three colors or if you prefer a different color scheme, you can designate any color you like to represent each element -- so long as you stay consistent throughout the model.
Take one foam ball representing a carbon atom and insert four toothpicks. Use the protractor to measure the angles between them. The angles should be roughly 109.5 degrees (it doesn't have to be exact) so that the carbon atom is at the center of an imaginary tetrahedron with the toothpicks pointing toward the corners. A tetrahedron is a pyramid formed from four faces, all of which are equal in size. Each face is an equilateral triangle.
Stick a foam ball representing an oxygen atom onto one of the toothpicks and a hydrogen atom onto another. Since all of the toothpicks are at equal angles with respect to each other, it doesn't matter which two you choose.
Attach two more carbon atoms to the remaining toothpicks on the central carbon atom.
Insert another toothpick into the oxygen atom. The angle between this new toothpick and the one connecting the oxygen atom with the central carbon should be a little less than 109.5 degrees. Again, it doesn't have to be exact, just so long as it's close.
Insert six more toothpicks into the two end carbons of the molecule -- three into each. Just as with the central carbon, these toothpicks should have angles of about 109.5 degrees, so that each toothpick is pointing at an angle of 109.5 degrees away from any of the others.
Connect six hydrogen atoms to these toothpicks and your model is complete.