Using Java to Animate the Vibrations of Molecules

The ability to animate molecular motion and interactively rotate the system in three-dimensional space is extremely helpful in communicating chemical concepts such as reactions and molecular vibrations. Here, we present a Java program and a chemical plug-in that allows the animation of molecules within popular world wide web browsers. To illustrate the usefulness of animation as a visualization aid, the molecular vibrations of (NSF)3 are simulated using a general atomic and molecular electronic structure system (GAMESS).