AR Atom Visualizer for ARCore

Signal Garden Research

About this app

From Signal Garden Research, Atom Visualizer enables you to see and explore atomic models in Augmented Reality with Google ARCore.

Please note : AR Atom Visualizer requires Google ARCore and a compatible Android device. ARCore is not supported by all devices.

Atom Visualizer brings science home and to the classroom - what is everything around us made of?
Atom Visualizer is a valuable pedagogical tool that helps to begin answering questions about science, and is simple enough to be used even in kindergarten.

Many of us understand the basic structure of an atom: a nucleus containing protons and neutrons, surrounded by electrons - but how are those electrons organized? How do they move? What do they look like?

Scientists and science teachers use two common models to answer these questions and visualize atoms:

The Bohr model presents the atom as a nucleus with orbiting electrons. This helps us understand the energy level of the electrons and how they are organized in relation to the nucleus.

The quantum mechanical model presents the atom with an electron cloud. This helps us understand the possible location of the electrons in relation to the nucleus.

AR Atom Visualizer uses Augmented Reality to create 3D animated visualizations of both these models in the real world - just by using your camera.

Launching the app starts your camera...
Tap the Plus button and choose any of the 118 elements in the periodic table to create a 3D animated atomic model.
Place the atom wherever you want it in real space and view it through your screen.
Adjust the animation speed with the slider.
Switch between 3D animated visualization of atoms with the Bohr model - a nucleus with orbiting electrons, or the quantum mechanical model - complete with random animated electron cloud.
Learn more about the elements through the Wikipedia links.

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UNM NSF STEP 2017 @ Signal Garden

Atom Visualizer was designed and built in just eight weeks by Jonathan Barndt using Signal Garden's Electrolyte Engine™ during his National Science Foundation STEP 2017 internship at Signal Garden, as part of the NSF STEM Talent Expansion Program. Jonathan was mentored in Signal Garden by Dylan Hart (lead engineer of Signal Mapper for Google Tango) and Omar Shaikh (lead engineer of Solar Simulator for Google Tango).
Jonathan graduated from the Computer Science program at the University of New Mexico in 2020.

Program Advisor: Professor Cassiano de Oliveira
Program Coordinator: Kelly Cockrell
Project Supervisor: Dylan Hart
Project Coordinator: Omar Shaikh
Project Administrator: James Croney
Project Infrastructure: Raf Szuminski
Platform Architect: Danny Bernal
Platform Designer: Marcin Ograbek
Platform Engineer: Zachari Dahran
Produced by Chuck Knowledge
Powered by Electrolyte Engine™
© 2017-2024 Signal Garden Research Corporation
All rights reserved.

Ratings and reviews

Looks nice but a couple of things that bother me. Once a simulation is running the protons and neutrons seem to move around. Touching them really splits them apart. I am no expert but this seems wrong and I find misleading. In the Bohr model the electrons do not pair up in full shells or even in almost full shells. Thus property of spin is not modeled well.

Amazing! Really cool, the first ARCore demo I tried that really works... perfectly! Occasionally loses sync with the world and objects vanish, but they eventually return in the exact same spot, bravo!

Very nice app with great animations. Improved from the previous version. Atoma are not keeping the position if placed in surfaces different from the floor (e.g. tables)

What's new

Atom Visualizer is always improving and this update includes new performance optimizations and bug fixes from Dylan Hart.

Atom Visualizer is truly free and safe - with no ads, in-app purchases, or data collection.
It uses Google Play Services for AR (ARCore) which is provided by Google LLC and governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
Please see the "Data safety" section for more details.

Your feedback makes Atom Visualizer better - please review it!
© 2017-2024 Signal Garden Research Corporation