The Visualiser versus The Absolute Truth

The visualiser cannot be trusted to give a completely accurate picture of the system. One multiprocessor systems, the visualiser will typically run on its own CPU, while the simulation itself runs elsewhere. Thus the system may change while the visualiser is rendering it, and the instantaneous picture as seen on the screen may actually be a blend of one ore more simulation steps. Furthermore, the number of molecules in a sub volume is typically much larger than what can be displayed. When rendering a subvolume, the visualiser will cycle through the different species in the sub volume, rendering one molecule of each species in every cycle. If there are no molecules of a certain species, the visualiser proceeds to the next. Thus, if there were one thousand A molecules and only one B molecule in the sub volume, but the visualiser could fit eight molecules into a sub volume, the sub volume will be rendered containing seven A molecules and one B molecule.