Drag or use the arrow keys to rotate. Scroll or pinch to change scale, or use the scale slider. Double-click or double-tap a part of the model, such as a quark or an atom, to open it.
atomicatlasEXPLORE THE UNSEEN
ATOMS04 / 08

Carbon atom

A closer look at the building blocks of matter.

Drag to rotate · Double-click a part to open it · Scroll to change scalePinch to change scale

SCHEMATIC VISUALIZATION · NOT TO SCALE
YOUR POSITION ON THE SCALE
1.4 × 10⁻¹⁰ mATOMIC SCALE
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THE ELEMENTS

Atom Browser

Choose an element from the periodic table to explore its atom.

Alkali metalAlkaline earth Transition metalPost-transition MetalloidNonmetal HalogenNoble gas LanthanideActinide

Select an element for its neutral atom. Colors group element families or show a trend; models are schematic.

THE STANDARD MODEL

Particle browser

Choose an elementary particle to explore.

All 17 Standard Model particle types. W⁺ and W⁻ count as one type; antiparticles are not listed separately. Elementary particles have no observed size.

BOUND BY THE STRONG FORCE

Hadrons

Choose a baryon or meson to explore its quark content.

Baryons hold three quarks and mesons a quark–antiquark pair (ringed). Masses and lifetimes are from the Particle Data Group.

ATOMIC NUCLEI

Nuclei

Choose a nucleus to explore its protons, neutrons, and stability.

Nuclear sizes are approximate charge diameters. Nucleons are drawn as an illustrative packed ball.

MOLECULES & MATERIALS

Molecules & materials

Choose a molecule or material to explore its structure.

Schematic models, not to scale. Molecular sticks show connectivity and bond order, not electron distributions. Material sample sizes are illustrative.

LEARN

Lessons

A QUICK FIELD GUIDE

How to explore

Travel through the building blocks of matter, from elementary particles to the materials around us.

01

Choose an objectOpen Particle browser, Hadrons, Nuclei, Atom Browser, or Molecules & materials from the field guide, or search by name or symbol. The atom browser's periodic table covers every element.

02

Travel across scalesScroll over the scene, pinch on a touch screen, or use the logarithmic scale bar. Models grow and shrink, with blended transitions between landmarks; those transitions are illustrative, not literal nesting. The arrows jump between landmarks.

03

Look aroundDrag the illustration, or focus it and use the arrow keys, to rotate it. Use the reset button to return to the original view.

04

Open a partDouble-click or double-tap a part of the model to open its own model: a quark or gluon inside a hadron, a proton or neutron inside a nucleus, an atom's nucleus or electrons, or an atom in a molecule or material.

05

Inspect moleculesSwitch between ball-and-stick, space-filling, and stick views. Click an atom or bond to inspect it, and turn on bond polarity, lone pairs, or vibrations.

06

Explore atomsSwitch an atom between the shell model and orbital clouds, pick a single orbital to see its shape, excite an electron to light up the element’s spectrum, or add and remove electrons to make ions.

07

Heat and decayCrystals have a temperature slider: watch the lattice shake and melt. Radioactive nuclei can be followed down their decay chain, and you can step through every isotope of an element.

08

Learn and test yourselfThe field guide holds five guided lessons, a quick quiz, and a lab of reactions and simulations. The tour button flies from a speck of diamond down to a single quark. Lesson progress is saved in this browser.

A note on scale

Browse all 17 Standard Model particle types: six quarks, six leptons, four gauge bosons, and the Higgs boson. The W⁺ and W⁻ charge states count as one type; antiparticles are not listed separately. These are conceptual illustrations, not images to scale. Elementary particles have no observed size; their position is illustrative. Material sample sizes are examples, not intrinsic dimensions. Atomic sizes depend on how they are measured.

TIP / focuses search · [ and ] jump between scales