Abstract:

Virtual simulation technology has been widely proposed as a significant technological advance that can offer a novel form for education. Especially in the case of chemistry, virtual reality technology facilitates learning process surpassing major restrictions characterizing traditional educational methods. In this system, some popular softwares including 3Ds Max and Unity 3D are used to develop a fully immersive, interactive and three-dimensional simulation system of gas chromatography (GC). Three modules are included in this system. First module is the introduction of the instrument. Second module is a three-dimensional display of the structures, which are modeled by 3Ds Max and interacted by Unity 3D. The last module focuses on the simulation experiments, and this module is made by Unity 3D. All models created in this system are three-dimensional and the scenes are lifelike, so that all aspects of the instrument are presented to users clearly. Using this system to learn about the principles and structures of the instrument, users would feel that they were in a real laboratory and could master all related skills more easily. This system is not only a powerful tool to satisfy the need of instrument training and experimental teaching of chemistry, but also an excellent example of virtual simulation applied in chemistry.

Key words: analytical instrument, gas chromatography (GC), three-dimensional, virtual simulation