Atom Kit for Visually Impaired

thingiverse

This is an atom kit based on a standard organic/inorganic molecule kit. Each atom is named according to its molecular geometry. Central atoms all are differentiated by different textured shapes used as skins of the typical spherical atom. It is inspired by the Envision the Future Design Challenge submissions of Flowerto found here: https://pinshape.com/items/35137-3d-printed-tactile-chemistry-learning-atoms and a design inspired by Caroline Benz, and undergraduate student at Marymount University https://pinshape.com/items/35147-3d-printed-atom-kit-for-visually-impaired. The design was created as consulting work for a university. Holes for pegs are 5 mm, to make them compatible with bonds that are often found in molecule kits. Samples of the textures are also included, so they can be printed separately and combined with braille for helping teach visually impaired users the representations for the various atoms. This is based on the tactile chemistry kit from the Envision the Future Challenge: https://pinshape.com/items/35137-3d-printed-tactile-chemistry-learning-atoms I found the tactile elements of that kit weren't printing well on a variety of printers so redid the concept from scratch in fusion 360/meshmixer. An color-coded excel table listing the atoms, bond geometries and textures used is included.