Which condition did you change?
Labs / Chemistry
Isomer Builder
Drag the carbon from the corner onto any atom to grow a molecule, and tap an end carbon to snip it off. The lab auto-fills hydrogens up to four bonds per carbon, works out the molecular formula and IUPAC name, and tallies every distinct isomer you find for a given formula.
Labs / Chemistry / Isomer Builder
Isomer Builder
Drag the carbon from the corner onto any atom to grow a molecule, and tap an end carbon to snip it off. The lab auto-fills hydrogens up to four bonds per carbon, works out the molecular formula and IUPAC name, and tallies every distinct isomer you find for a given formula.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Chemistry connects events too small to see with changes we can measure. This model helps you link particles, energy, and conditions to an observable result.
Explore
Try the model
formula C4H10name butaneisomers 1
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Butane is C4H10 — can you rearrange four carbons into a second molecule with the same formula but a different name?
- Every carbon caps out at four bonds. What happens when you try to hang a fifth atom on one that is already full?
- How many different isomers can you build from six carbons? Does the counter agree with what chemists expect?
- Why does the formula always land on C-n-H-(2n+2) no matter how you branch the chain?
- When does adding a branch shorten the main chain, and how does that flip the name from a pentane back to a butane?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Describe what happened at the particle or energy level, then connect it to the result you saw. A strong explanation names both the cause and the evidence.
Check
Before you leave
What happened to the particles or energy?
What observation supports your explanation?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.