Category: Molecular Workbench
Our Next-Generation Molecular Workbench (MW) software usually models molecular dynamics—from states of matter and phase changes to diffusion and gas laws. Recently, we adapted the Molecular Dynamics 2D engine to model macroscale physics mechanics as well, including pendulums and springs. In order to scale up the models from microscopic to macroscopic, we employ specific unit-scaling […]
Link to simulation A rocket mass heater is an innovative and highly efficient space heating system, which is popular among natural building DIYers since its invention in 1970s. A number of engineers who are interested in rocket stove design have used our Energy2D software to visualize the thermal physics involved. Link to simulation Martin Karl […]
We’re pleased today to welcome a new logo for the Molecular Workbench (MW), our complex, beautiful and award-winning software for visualizing molecular dynamics and more. MW was developed over a decade with funding from the National Science Foundation by senior scientist and software developer Charles Xie. It includes a powerful physics engine that calculates the […]
A student designIn a pilot study conducted in December 2012, high school students in an engineering class used our Energy3D CAD tool to do an urban solar design project — they must consider the sun path in four seasons and the existing buildings in th…
The day/night cycle of an SUTThe solar updraft tower is a new-concept clean energy power plant for generating electricity from the sun. Sunshine falling on a greenhouse collector structure around the base of a tall chimney heats the air within it. The …
A Trombe wall is a sun-facing wall separated from the outdoors by glass and an air space. It consists a solar absorber (such as a dark surface) and two vents for air in the house to circulate through the space and carry the solar heat to warm the house…
In his Critique of Pure Reason, the Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant asserted that “conception without perception is empty, perception without conception is blind. The understanding can intuit nothing, the senses can think nothing. Only through their unison can knowledge arise.” More than 200 years later, his wisdom is still enlightening our NSF-funded Mixed-Reality Labs project. […]
One of the most effective pedagogies in science education is to challenge students to design and construct something that performs a function, solves a problem, or proves a hypothesis. Learning by design is a very compelling way of engaging students to…
Link to NSTA news NSTA Reports is the National Science Teachers Association’s newspaper published nine times a year as a free member service. In January, our Engineering Energy Efficiency Project was one of the three projects featured in a report about “meaningfully integrating science and engineering.” The Engineering Energy Efficiency Project is funded by the […]
A house designed using our Energy3D CAD software. Perhaps the most important change in the Next Generation Science Standards to be released in March 2013 is the elevation of engineering design to the same level of importance as of scientific inquiry (which was enshrined as a doctrine of science education in the 1996 science standards). […]