Imagine this is an hydrogen atom.
This, is another one,
and then this is H2, the hydrogen molecule.
You can break it apart, add an oxygen atom and make H2O—water.
A carbon with four hydrogens, that is methane.
And you can actually combine it with water to make: methanol.
These are Snatoms, The Magnetic Molecular Modeling Kit.
And I am Derek Muller, the creator of a Youtube channel called Veritasium,
which has nearly 3 million suscribers.
Through my videos, I teach science virtually to millions of people around the world.
But some things are best learned hands-on.
Like chemistry. I mean, atoms are impossible to see
and chemical notation can be very confusing for students.
And that is why, as a teacher for 7 years before I started Veritasium,
I've always wished that something like this existed.
Snatoms are an improvement over ball-and-stick models for three reasons:
1) They're quicker to put together and break apart,
2) Plus, they're a better representation of what a molecule actually looks like.
I mean, bonds are not sticks. They are overlapping electron orbitals.
3) And most important, Snatoms allow you to feel the attraction between atoms.
And that helps break the misconception that bonds store energy.
This is something that I talked to Hank Green about on SciShow Talk Show.
Derek: Where is the energy coming from?
Hank: The bonds, man.
Derek: But my concern is this, right? If you think that there really is energy in bonds,
Hank: Yup.
Derek: Then you would imagine something like breaking those bonds open
releases that energy.
Hank: Right.
Derek: Which is totally false!
Hank: That is true.
Derek: This is my point!
(laughter)
Derek: It's the formation of bonds that releases energy,
and it's the breaking of bonds which takes energy.
With Snatoms, you can easily feel the work you need to do to break a bond, and you
can hear the energy released when a new bond forms. [click]
I've been developing Snatoms for over two years.
The first prototypes I made out of Styrofoam balls that I cut and put magnets in.
You may have seen this picture on my Instagram.
Then I made drawings for the project and had them 3D printed
And then I created some injection molded prototypes
which I spray-painted and used in my video ''5 Fun Physics Phenomena''
Now I need your help to make this project a reality.
Veritasium has showed me that there are millions of people out there passionate
about helping others understand science.
So if you agree with me that this would help and Snatoms should exist in the world,
then help me fund the production molds and magnets required to make this happen.
A basic Snatoms kit would include
6 carbon atoms, 6 oxygens
and 12 hydrogens.
That's all the atoms you need to make glucose, the basic sugar molecule.
But of course with this building blocks you can build
hundreds of other molecules.
And I will make some video guides explaining how to use Snatoms
to learn about molecules, chemical bonding, geometry
and balancing equations.
And, if we reach a stretch target I will add another element to the kit,
like nitrogen. Plus if we reach a further stretch target I will build an app
that will gamify the process of learning, allowing users to learn
about new molecules and capture their progress.
I think the best way to learn science is hands-on from a young age,
and if you want to help me make this happen, then support this Kickstarter.
You don't have to buy a set of Snatoms (though that definitely would help)
But if you think is a good idea just share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook.
I really appreciate your support and I look forward to helping the world
learn science physically in addition to through the internet.