Elementa: Hear the Elements

Light is 40 octaves above sound.

Elementa takes the real emission spectrum of every element (the exact wavelengths each atom glows at, from the NIST atomic spectra database) and shifts it down precisely 40 octaves into the range you can hear. Nothing is invented: the pitches are physics.

Tap hydrogen and you hear its four Balmer lines. Tap sodium and you hear the famous yellow doublet: two lines so close together that they beat, slowly, about once every two seconds. Neon rings low and red. Iron shimmers. Drag your finger across the table to strum through the elements.

PLAY • All 118 elements laid out as an instrument. Tap, or drag to strum • Each element's true-colour spectrum lights up line by line as it sounds • Every line shown with its wavelength, frequency and nearest musical note • Strum or chord; pure physics or tuned to the nearest piano key • Visible light only, or the full spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared

EAR TEST A new five-question puzzle every day: listen to a mystery element and pick it from four. Keep your streak and share your result grid.

SPELL Type any word or name and hear it in element symbols. "Genius" becomes Ge·Ni·U·S. Share it as a card.

LEARN • Why visible light spans almost exactly one octave • Flame-test colours, and why strontium's red flame is not its atomic colour • The data and the method, fully cited

ALSO • Element of the Day widget • Siri and Shortcuts: "Play sodium in Elementa" • Works offline. No account, no ads, no tracking: Elementa collects no data • English and Simplified Chinese

For students, teachers, musicians and anyone who has ever wondered what the elements would sound like.

Data: NIST Atomic Spectra Database, Handbook of Basic Atomic Spectroscopic Data. Inspired by W. Walker Smith's musical periodic table and Atom Tones. Contact: 3528872473@qq.com

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