Google Space (Floating Google)

Developer Mr.doob published Google Space in October 2012 as a zero-gravity physics experiment for the browser. Google featured it in Chrome Experiments, though it was not an official Google Easter egg. You can try the original on Mr.doob’s site and read about it in the Experiments with Google listing.

The experiment applies a zero-gravity simulation to a Google-style homepage. The search box, buttons, and links drift and collide, and visitors can drag or throw them. The original also retrieved Google results through the Google Web Search API, until that API was retired.

Google featured “Google Space” on Chrome Experiments alongside Mr.doob’s earlier Google Gravity. Both used a familiar search interface to demonstrate interactive physics in a browser.

The original’s built-in search stopped working when the Google Web Search API was retired in 2014. This edition uses cards from this website so you can keep adding objects to the weightless scene.

The homepage pieces drift and collide as they do in Mr.doob’s original experiment. Here, you can move them with touch controls and switch the scene to a dark theme. The search button supplies randomly selected Easter egg cards from this website, adding more objects to the same floating scene.

Open the page and let the homepage pieces drift apart, then drag or throw them to change their paths. Add a random Easter egg card with the search button to give the other pieces something new to collide with. Switching between light and dark themes changes the backdrop while the scene keeps moving.

A throw sends the homepage pieces drifting through Mr.doob’s zero-gravity scene, where they can keep colliding with one another. The separate Google Gravity page applies a downward pull to the same familiar interface, letting you compare how it behaves.