Text Box: The EdCenter is working with two professors at Hoover High School in San Diego to create visualizations to assist in teaching scientific concepts to their 9-12th grade students. Text Box: Robert North is a Chemistry teacher at Hoover High. Robert received his degree from San Diego State University. He also participated in the STEP program at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Text Box: For his project, Mr. North decided to focus on California State Chemistry Standard 11a. Nuclear Processes—Students know protons and neutrons in the nucleus are held together by nuclear forces that overcome the electromagnetic repulsion between the protons. Mr. North felt that his students had a particularly difficult time understanding the concept of nuclear force, so we agreed that a simple model of a Lithium atom would allow them to see the electromagnetic repulision of the protons and their inability to escape the nuclear force. Text Box: Students enter the Lithium Battery Field Trip and cross the terrain to the huge Lithium Battery in the distance. Along the way, they encounter protons, neutrons, electrons and a cloud of “nuclear force”. Each object that they encounter also has a short explanation of what the object is. When they reach the Lithium Battery, they see how all of the objects that they have encountered along the way fit together in an animated lithium atom.