Spherification: Ionic Gelation Simulator

This simulator models the molecular-gastronomy technique of spherification, where a droplet of sodium-alginate solution is dropped into a calcium-chloride bath and calcium ions diffuse inward, ionically cross-linking the alginate into a gel. The 3D scene shows a cutaway focus droplet whose liquid core visibly shrinks as its gel shell thickens, alongside a bath of many droplets gelling at once, all driven by the same diffusion-limited parabolic growth law (x = √(2·D·t)) used to model oxide layers and case hardening. Adjust alginate concentration, calcium-bath strength, droplet size and time acceleration, then drop the sphere and watch the gelation front sweep inward while live readouts track immersion time, shell thickness, remaining liquid-core radius and gelled fraction.