Teaching disassembly, not a biological process. Carbohydrates stay attached.
Polar headsNon-polar tailsProteinsCarbohydrates
Exploded viewSeparate & examine
AssembledSeparated
Motion onSchematic · not to scale
Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · click to inspect
Building the membrane
Generating the 3D model locally.
MODEL NOTES
A model, not a micrograph.
This is an educational 3D reconstruction of a generic animal plasma membrane, designed around A-level structure–function relationships. It is a schematic, not an atomically resolved structure or a molecular-dynamics simulation.
What the model preserves
Two phospholipid leaflets with their tails facing inward; surface carbohydrates on the extracellular side; cholesterol’s small polar end near the head groups; proteins embedded in or attached to the bilayer; and a cytoskeleton on the cytosolic side. Protein categories overlap: a receptor can also be an integral glycoprotein.
What is deliberately simplified
Colours are an identification key. Molecular sizes, shapes, numbers and animation speeds are illustrative. The proteins are representative shapes, not structures of particular named proteins. The exposed edges are a cut-away window into a continuous membrane. In the exploded view, components are moved into display positions; real bilayers do not pull apart this way in water.
Lipid motion uses illustrative neighbour exchanges. The fluidity controls show qualitative trends, not measured diffusion coefficients or a validated temperature–composition model. Transport animations repeat while maintaining the shown gradients; they do not calculate equilibration, pressure changes or a membrane potential. The ion-channel example assumes no opposing electrical gradient. The ATP-powered pump is generic, not a sodium–potassium pump with its specific 3:2 stoichiometry.
Space Pause / resumeE Explode / assembleL Show / hide labelsR Reset cameraEsc Return / closeDrag: rotate · pinch: zoom
Single-file application. No login, uploads, tracking, external fonts or network requests are needed to run the model. Source links open online. Best viewed in a modern browser with WebGL enabled.