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Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: xilc on January 13, 2012, 10:51:06 PM

Title: What is this and how do I read it??
Post by: xilc on January 13, 2012, 10:51:06 PM

Seriously, no trolling at all.. I'm a new chemistry/bio student and I saw this....

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/tofu/babb/molecule2.gif

what is that called and how do I learn to read one? Any tips on reading it ? tutorial maybe?

Title: Re: What is this and how do I read it??
Post by: Arkcon on January 13, 2012, 11:22:34 PM

That is a pretty typical way to represent a molecule.  We can plan reactions that attack various parts of the molecule, to predict outcomes, or we can count the atoms represented by the letters to write the formula, we can even use the info to try to predict how much energy we'd get out of it, or even what wavelengths it would absorb at.  Where did you get it, and are you interested in any of the above topics?

Title: Re: What is this and how do I read it??
Post by: UG on January 13, 2012, 11:47:28 PM

Those are skeletal structures of the caffeine molecule. Most organic textbooks should have examples dealing with skeletal structures. I am sure you can find tutorials on the internet also.

Title: Re: What is this and how do I read it??
Post by: juanrga on January 16, 2012, 11:20:17 AM

Quote from: xilc on January 13, 2012, 10:51:06 PM

Seriously, no trolling at all.. I'm a new chemistry/bio student and I saw this....

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/tofu/babb/molecule2.gif

what is that called and how do I learn to read one? Any tips on reading it ? tutorial maybe?

Textbooks dealing with chemical notation and nomenclature will explain you to read molecular representations as these and more complex.