[G-01] Amazing technologies and capabilities that contribute to STEAM

[G01-P02] Increasing the understanding of abstract chemical concepts using VR programming

Garrison Penzo¹, Dante H Delgado¹, *Colleen M Knight¹ (1.College of Coastal Georgia)

Keywords:Virtual Reality, Nuclear Chemistry, Atomic Structure, Undergraduate Research, Chemistry

Chemical concepts such as the structure of the atom or the inner workings of nuclear chemistry are often difficult to convey to students. The main setback for students is the inability to visualize structures at the subatomic level. In a true interdisciplinary project, undergraduate mathematics majors teamed up with a chemistry professor to develop two programs within the Oculus platform. One program allows students to visualize the actual behavior of electrons in an atom. The other program allows users to create a theoretical nucleus and watch that nucleus undergo nuclear decay to reach the next stable nucleus. The output to the user identifies the new nucleus, and a list of decays allows the user to follow the path of decay to a stable nucleus. Both of these programs increased the understanding of chemical concepts to the undergraduate students who programmed the applications and can also serve as valuable tools to make abstract concepts more accessible in the classroom and beyond.