Molecular Origami: Precision Scale Models from Paper

by Robert M. Hanson

This is a fun, hands-on guide to understanding the basic structure and chemistry of matter. Drawing on the Japanese art of paperfolding, the book provides rip-out patterns for 124 molecules, along with easy instructions for folding them into scale models, many of which are three-dimensional. The molecules progress from simple ones like methane to more exotic structures such as quartz and buckminsterfullerenes. Questions and discussions are included.

255 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

Robert M. Hanson is a Professor of Chemistry at St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota, USA, where he has been teaching since 1986. Trained as an organic chemist with Gilbert Stork at Columbia University, he shares a patent with 2001 Nobel Prize winner K.Barry Sharpless for the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols. His interest in thermodynamics goes back to early training at the California Institute of Technology, from which he got a B.S. degree in 1979. He spends his occasional moments of free time playing the violin in a community orchestra, piloting gliders and designing new Sudoku strategies.

Reviews

[Tamra]

Not actually origami, but I'm sure that somebody who knows a lot about origami could figure it out. That person would not be me...

[Alex]

This is not actually origami. I was disappointed to find this out after I ordered it. It could still be useful in the classroom, or for making chemistry-themed Christmas ornaments.