Three-dimensional printing of ellipsoidal structures using Mercury

Abstract

The ability to export structures from Mercury to 3D printing file formats allows 3D ellipsoidal models to be printed quickly and easily. Since these physical models are similar to the ellipsoidal plots found in scientific papers and presentations, this will allow students, instructors and crystallographers ready access to a physical model of X-ray diffraction data normally only found on the computer screen or printed page.