Atom Touch

Explore the Atomic World

AtomTouch is a molecular simulation app, created through a partnership between UW MRSEC and Field Day Lab, that allows learners to explore principles of thermodynamics and molecular dynamics in a tactile, exploratory way.

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About Atom Touch

AtomTouch is a molecular simulation app, created through a partnership between UW MRSEC and Field Day Lab. It allows learners to explore principles of thermodynamics and molecular dynamics in a tactile, exploratory way. The simulation was developed to help students understand the structures and attributes of particles at the molecular level, providing real-time feedback and responding to students’ actions.

Aligned with Standards

AtomTouch can be used to address the Next Generation Science Standards in multiple curricular units, including:

  • States and Properties of Matter
  • Predicting and modeling how atoms behave as materials change state
  • Figure out the most stable structure for a molecule
  • Atomic and molecular Theory
  • Physical and Chemical Interactions
  • Properties of atoms, molecules, and matter
  • Size and Scale

Teacher Support

Download the Teacher Guide and the Powerpoint Slides for Class.

Features

  • Lennard Jones and Buckingham Simulation Engine
  • Create molecules from Cu, Au, Pt, Na and Cl
  • Change thermodynamics properties
  • Control time
  • Experiment with the potential energy, finding stable geometries
  • Watch the process of melting and vaporizing

Production Team

  • Anne Lynn Gillian-Daniel (Education Lead)
  • Dane Morgan (Simulation Lead)
  • David Gagnon (Production Lead)
  • Ben Hansen (Unity Software Engineer)
  • Yucheng Tu (Unity Software Engineer)
  • Amirhossein Davoody (Lead Simulation Software Engineer)
  • Justin Moeller (Software Engineer)
  • Ben Taylor (User Testing, Educational Design)
  • Izabela Szlufarska (MRSEC Inderdisciplinary Computational Group Lead)
  • Eric Peterson (3d Modeling, Animation, UX Design)
  • Tyler Anlauf (3d Modeling, Graphic Design, UX Design)
  • Tam Mayeshiba (Simulation Software Engineer)
  • Henry Wu (Simulation Software Engineer)
  • Kritika Rai (Software Engineer)
  • Anup Rathi (Software Engineer)

Source Code

This is a MIT Licensed, Opensource project. We would love to have some help in developing new potentials. Contribute to the code at https://github.com/fielddaylab/atomtouch

Funding

This research was primarily supported by NSF through the University of Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-1121288)