Introduction
Lattice is educational software that can be used to simulate polymer
chains on a tetrahedral lattice and calculate average properties like end-to-end
distance and radius of gyration. Lattice was written by Prof.
John A. Nairn from the Material Science
and Engineering Department at the University
of Utah; it is free for academic use. On this web site you can read a brief
description of Lattice, download Lattice, or download a complete
manual. This web site is divided into several sections. You can click on the
links in the Site Index to go to any section of the web site. Each section
ends with another Site Index to let you move to any other section.
Site Index: | Introduction
| Downloads | Lattice Features
| What's New |
Downloading Options
The following downloads for Lattice are free for any
academic use. If you use it, however, please send email to John.Nairn@m.cc.utah.edu
with feedback and you will be placed on an emailing-list to be
notified about new versions. Currently, Lattice is only
available for Power Macintosh computers (i.e., any recent Mac). The downloads require the free StuffIt Expander.
- Download Lattice 8.01 (236 kB): This Carbon appliction runs native on MacOS X and also runs on any Mac 8.1 newer if the CarbonLib Extensions is installed (it is standard in most MacOS installations). This version is the most recent and recommended version of Lattice. If you have problems or have a very old Mac, you can try the next download instead.
- Download Lattice 7.2 (213 kbytes): This non-Carbon version can be used if the Carbon version does not work on your computer which should only be for very old Macs or for Macs with MacOS 8.0 or older.
- Download Lattice Manual (216 Kbytes - Lattice,
as downloaded above, has complete on-line help which can be printed to get
the manual. If you want the manual as a PDF document as well (or instead),
you can use this download. Reading the PDF manual requires the free
Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
Site Index: | Introduction
| Downloads | Lattice Features
| What's New |
Some Features of Lattice
Lattice has many features for studying polymer molecules.
All features are documented in the on-line help or in the manual
download above. Here is a partial list of features:
- Monte Carlo simulations of polymer molecules on a tetrahedral
lattice with calculation of various properties like end-to-end
distance and radius of gyration.
- Each polymer chain can be plotted in various color, three-dimensional
plots to see what the polymer conformations look like.
- The distribution of end-to-end distances can be plotted.
- Copolymers can be simulated.
- Various types of vinyl polymers can be simulated.
- An Experiment option lets you connect a series of
plots together that define a logical experiment. The results
of experiments can be plotted or exported as a table of results
for lab reports.
- Excluded volume interactions can be included in any simulation.
- The polymer can be restricted by planes such as confining
it to a box or tube, or attaching it to a surface. The effect
of the walls can be calculated including their influence on the
chemical potential energy or configurational entropy of the chains.
- Complete on-line help is always available. The manual can
be printed from within Lattice or downloaded above as a PDF document.
Site Index: | Introduction
| Downloads | Lattice Features
| What's New |
What's New
Here is a list of some recent changes in Lattice:
- Lattice 8.01 (March 2005): Fixed a bug that could crash after adding files to an experiment file.
- Lattice 8.0 (February 2003): Updated to run native in MacOS X and some interface improvements.
- Lattice 7.2 (February 2000)
- All changes in this version will interface improvements. Most importantly, if you have a recent MacOS, file opening will be done using the new MacOS method. The new file box is most useful when creating experiments because it will let you select any number of files and add them all at once to the experiment file.
- Lattice 7.1 (February 2000)
- The main change in this version is to do simulations of vinyl polymers
better. The previous versions actually did them correctly but converged
so slowly as to be relative useless. The new version now gets valid vinyl
polymer simulations in reasonable times (albeit slower than for homopolymers).
- The on-line help can now be searched for any text string. The help also
has clickable links to send email
to the developer and to access relevant web sites.
- Lattice 7.0 (March 1998): This was the first version posted on the internet.
Site Index: | Introduction
| Downloads | Lattice Features
| What's New |
Return To: Prof. John A. Nairn Home
Page
Email Contact: John.Nairn@m.cc.utah.edu
March 10, 2005