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Newton's
Cannon |
Newton
's Principia suggested that if you fire a cannon from a high mountain it
could fall, circle the earth, or fly away depending on how hard it was
fired. While
Newton
may have approved the use of his drawing from the Principia, he may not
have appreciated a cannon that sounds like a squeaky toy
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Group
Velocity and Phase Velocity |
Change the group and phase
velocities of interfering sine waves
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Einstein's
Explanation of Brownian Motion |
This applet shows how atomic
velocities cause the Brownian Motion of a dust particle. In one panel a
small ball jitters. In the next, we see that it jitters because many
smaller balls bat it rapidly about.
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Projectile
Motion |
Shoot a cannon to see how
high and far the ball flies
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One-dimensional
one-atom classical gas |
This applet describes a
single atom gas moving in one dimension. It accelerates or decelerates
only through classical collisions with the moving piston on its
container. This alone is enough to explain why the gas gets warm when it
is compressed and cool when expanded.
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Two-dimensional
collisions |
One ball strikes another.
Change relative masses, initial velocity, and angle of the collision.
Watch it in the center of mass and lab frame. It makes the collision
angles very clear, and the controls are sort of fun.
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Model
Nonequilibrium System |
This applet shows a model
physical system much like the game of Life. Here, simple rules produce
complex physical behavior. The model system is from papers by Beate
Schmittmann.
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