The alkali halide clusters in this zoo were produced using the program Cluster and data available in the chemical literature. Each cluster can be viewed either as a still picture (snapshot) or by using virtual reality (VRML). VRML provides a three-dimensional representation of the cluster that can be examined from any viewpoint. You can rotate the cluster, move it toward you, away from you or anywhere you want on the screen.

Clusters are shown to scale, in space-filling form. The energy of each cluster is given in atomic units (1 au = 27.21 electron Volts).

In order to use virtual reality, you must have a VRML plugin such as CosmoPlayer, which works with either Netscape 4.x or Internet Explorer 4.0x. CosmoPlayer is available free from CosmoSoftware.

The CosmoPlayer control panel looks like this:

Use Help to get complete directions (Click on the ? at the right of the control).

When you are done looking at a snapshot or a VRML representation of a cluster, use the Back (<<) control of your browser to return to this page.