Structural model of the mineral olivine built from the right tetrahedra and octahedra.

This model was designed to illustrate the structure of one of the rock-forming silicates - olivine.

I plasticized such a model during several years of my teaching crystallography for geologists and believe me they do perfectly work. Much better then the simple pictures or even 3D-models on the screen.

The model is strong enough and survive the fall from the table.

Print several such a layers and ask students to built the whole structure, which can be also the good test on exam.

Another exercise is to built the structures from separate tetrahedra and octahedra (which models you can easily find). In this case, I recommend to use magnets, it will sufficiently save the time of model construction.

Other information, video and discussions at https://t.me/SciCryst