Electrond Flower — Seeing Electrons as Flowers

Seeing Electrons as Flowers

This series reimagines the invisible presence of electrons as flowers — roses, cosmos, and chrysanthemums. Based on the Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics, the probability distribution of each electron is simulated in 3DCG software, giving visible form to its fleeting beauty. To express the wave–particle duality of the electron, the works are created in two techniques: stippling and waveforms.

Rooted in mitate — the Japanese aesthetic of seeing one thing as another, alive since the age of the Man'yōshū — this work sees electrons as flowers, just as a dry landscape garden evokes flowing water, connecting science and art. The plotter slowly drawing a concept onto paper resembles the scientist working out thoughts as formulas on paper, and the painter placing pigment on a blank canvas. Like the spirals and fractals that recur throughout nature, the microscopic world of the electron also harbors a beautiful, flower-like order.

The Quantum Mechanics of Electron Orbitals

“What is everything made of?” — the question posed by Democritus in ancient Greece found a new answer in the quantum mechanics of the twentieth century. In Rutherford's atomic model, electrons were thought to orbit the nucleus like planets; in reality, electrons trace no fixed orbit. Possessing wave–particle duality, an electron does not simply “exist here” but is distributed as “the probability of existing here.”

When the wave function describing this probability is visualized, beautiful geometric patterns known as spherical harmonics emerge. These forms are no mere theoretical artifacts: they determine the chemical properties of atoms, and are the essence behind the shapes of molecules and the colors of matter.

Works

Rose — 2025 / 210×297mm / AxiDraw V3, Kent paper, Sakura Pigma 003 black
Rose Wave — 2025 / 394×545mm / NextDraw 2234, Kent paper, Sakura Pigma 003 black
Rose Point — 2025 / 394×545mm / NextDraw 2234, Kent paper, Sakura Pigma 003 black
Cosmos — 2025 / 210×297mm / AxiDraw V3, Kent paper, Sakura Pigma 003 black

Works from this series are available in the Shop →