oPhysics: Interactive Physics Simulations

Select a simulation from one of the above categories or click on a category to see descriptions of the simulations for that category.


Simple Harmonic Motion Optical Illusion

This is just a simple visual representation of simple harmonic motion. Each of the orange balls moves in simple harmonic motion.
Falling Spring with Attached Masses

This is a simulation of two masses attached to the top and bottom ends of a vertical ideal spring. The top mass is initially held in place, while the weight of the bottom mass causes the initial stretch of the spring. When you press the "Run" button, the top mass is released and the resulting motion of the two masses and the spring is shown. The center of mass of the system falls downward with uniform gravitational acceleration relative to the ground, while the two masses each oscillate in simple harmonic motion relative to their center of mass. Question: Under what conditions does the top mass actually move upward (relative to the ground)?
Pendulum Wave in Two Dimensions

Just a simple animation showing pendulum wave motion in two dimensions.
Art Maker

A simple fun way to make symmetric art.
Voronoi Diagrams Using Cones

If you take a number of points on a plane, the plane can be broken up into regions where each region shows the part of the plane that is closest to one of the designated points. This type of a map is called a Voronoi diagram, or Voronoi tessellation. One way to create Voronoi diagrams is by using cones. The points on your plane act as the vertices of the cones, and when viewed from directly above, the Voronoi diagram is seen. Move the points and watch the diagram shift and morph.
Juggling 13 Balls

This is just a very simple animation of what it would look like to juggle 13 balls in a standard cascade pattern.
Perfect Card Shuffling

Showing the position of any card in a standard 52 card deck after a certain number of "perfect" shuffles.


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