Meet Visible Body's New Biochemistry Models
Visible Body recently released new atom and bonding models in Visible Body Suite and Courseware—our first foray into biochemistry! Thanks to these interactive 3D models, it’s easy for users to visualize atomic structures and ionic and covalent bonding.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the four new models and how instructors can use them in the classroom, including how instructors can assign the new biochemistry 3D lessons in Courseware to help their students learn.
Meet the Models
Users can access the new sodium atom, chlorine atom, ionic bonding, and covalent bonding models in VB Suite (a robust library of life sciences models, videos, and more) and Courseware (Visible Body’s learning platform). You can access these models in your web browser or on the VB Suite mobile app, which is available to all VB Suite and Courseware subscribers. That means that you can use augmented reality to explore this content, too!
AR mode in the VB Suite mobile app.
Let’s start with the sodium and chlorine atoms.
Sodium and chlorine atom models in VB Suite.
You can play, pause, and scrub through the animation to watch the entire process or focus on a specific part. Click on any structure to read its name and description—or click on the Listen button to have your device read the description aloud for you.
Here’s a tip: the electrons are color-coded, so you can easily see which shell they belong to!
Once you’ve explored the sodium and chlorine atoms, it’s time to look at ionic bonding. Watch the sodium atom donate its valence shell electron to the chlorine electron, causing the sodium atom to become positively-charged and the chlorine atom to become negatively-charged. Observe how the resulting electrostatic attraction holds the two atoms together.
Interactive ionic bonding simulation in VB Suite.
Next, take a gander at covalent bonding! This is a great time to talk about the octet rule, which states that atoms are most stable when they have eight electrons in their valence shell. See how two hydrogen atoms share their valence electrons with the oxygen atom, fulfilling the octet rule. 
Interactive covalent bonding simulation in VB Suite.
How to Use These Models in the Classroom
Here at Visible Body, we don’t just want to make pretty models—we want them to be functional. Like all our content, these new biochemistry models were designed with classroom use in mind.
In VB Suite, you can add 3D annotations using the Draw tool and the Notepad. You can save your customized view to return to later, or you can add it to a Tour, which is an interactive 3D presentation. You can also make Flashcards and easily share them with your students!
Moving from a Flashcard to exploring a 3D model in VB Suite.
Through Courseware, you can assign the new biochemistry content and add instructions, so your students know what to focus on as they manipulate the models. Additionally, the team at Visible Body has created five 3D lessons you can add to your assignment to break down the ideas further.
An assignment in Courseware that uses the new 3D lessons.
Courseware’s intuitive, drag-and-drop assignment builder makes it simple to add exactly the content you want. Here’s a brand-new feature that makes it even easier to create assignments: you can now preview the content straight from the assignment builder!
3D-ify Your Bio Course
These new biochemistry models are exciting, but we’re not stopping there. The Visible Body team is hard at work creating even more new content and features to improve life sciences learning.
Interested in using Visible Body? Try a free instructor trial!
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Are you an instructor? We have award-winning 3D products and resources for your anatomy and physiology course! Learn more here.
