App creates floating 3D molecules from hand-drawn chemical structures
MolAR also lets users visualise molecules in water, coffee and fruit by scanning them with a smartphone camera
An app that lets people turn their hand-drawn structures into 3D augmented reality molecules has caused excitement among chemists on Twitter.
Users say that MolAR is not only instructional but also fun to use. ‘The app provides quick visualisation of the 3D structure of a molecule in augmented reality (AR), making it effortless for users to understand molecular structures,’ says team leader Todd Martinez of Stanford University, US. ‘This offers a far richer learning experience. Rather than static 2D structures on a page, the molecules appear in 3D on their desk.’