What is Atom in a Box?

Atom in a Box... [is] a scientific and educational program that aids in visualizing the Hydrogenic atomic orbitals, a prime and otherwise unwieldy example of quantum mechanics.

Unlike other tools in this category, this program raytraces through a three-dimensional cloud density that represents the wavefunction's probability density and presents its results in real-time (up to 48 frames per second on the latest hardware). The user interface is very interactive and provides a wide degree of flexibility.

It contains all 140 eigenstates up to the n=7 energy level and the allowed spectral transitions between those eigenstates. It also allows a state formed by a superposition... of up to eight of those eigenstates allowing for over 3 trillion possible states. The program can display a wavefunction as a picture of a cloud, use color as phase, plot in red-cyan left/right for 3D glasses, and slice the wavefunction.

Dauger, Dean. (1999). Atom in a Box. www.physics.ucla.edu/~dauger/orbitals/

Download Atom in a Box for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver