Making Lab Diagrams Easier to Visualize

When it comes to student laboratory/apparatus setup, one thing is sure to help—visuals. However, many of us suffer from a disorder that makes all our test tubes resemble things we wish they didn’t. In addition, it is often hard to find that perfect image using the trusted Google search. However, it turns out there is a free and incredibly easy tool that allows you to assemble and customize almost any chemistry related setup you wish. Say hello to Chemix!

As described by its developer¹,

I use this intuitive app at least a couple times a week.  Sometimes it is just to capture an image of a beaker half full of water so that I can more easily draw particle diagrams on the board, while other times I use it to add clarity to my worksheets, labs, or assessments. 

Image 1 - Introduction to a question from an assessment of mine that Chemix helped improve

As a chemistry teacher, I strongly recommend you take five minutes to explore the awesome features of this useful tool. For Google Chrome users, you can easily add it as one of your Chrome apps so that you don't have to go to the website each time you want to make a diagram.

Image 2 - Sample Chemix image I made that displays some of the apps cool features.

Check out this demo for a brief glimpse of how powerful this little tool can be. I should mention that this demo was from 2009—Chemix can do so much more now!

¹ Chemix website: https://chemix.org (accessed 2/17/23)