I use molecular modeling kits for Bio and Chem. I’ve collected several kits because I teach Bio and Chem regularly and consider the kits an investment. But many home-school families only teach Bio and Chem once or twice. These families need an inexpensive kit. One reason my kids get through Biochem is because we take the time to build the molecules. We’re in the middle of Biochem. So I built molecules with both kits. My test molecule is D-glucose. I bought both kits from Amazon, October 10th. One kit arrived October 19th and the other Oct. 25th—fairly timely. Sometimes very inexpensive kits do not arrive for months. Neither kit had enough atoms to build D-glucose. The $6.95 kit had enough carbon and hydrogen atoms. I had to substitute three oxygen molecules with another atom. The hydrogen atoms are orange. Weird. Usually hydrogen is white. The $11.98 molecule kit did not have enough oxygen atoms for D-glucose. Boooooo! The $6.95 kit is sturdy. You might want to just make your own molecules. Here is the CPK color chart. Scroll down to see the colors for carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Make the hydrogen atoms small; the other atoms are usually the same size. Link the clay atoms with toothpicks. Meanwhile I’m still looking for cheap molecule kits.
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