Insight.(Theory of Atoms in Molecules)(Brief Article)

ATOMIC SURFACES: The "Theory of Atoms in Molecules" by chemistry professor Richard Bader says that the surfaces within molecules can be used to define both the shape of individual atoms as well as their properties, such as what part of the total molecular charge is owned by any given atom. To help researchers visualize such properties, Chris Henze of the NASA Ames Research Center wrote custom software for an SGI Onyx computer to create this image of the surfaces separating atoms within an ethylene ([G.sub.2][H.sub.4]) molecule. The surfaces are actually boundaries in the ...