Forces and friction
8 ready-made scenes and Python scripts. Each opens in the studio; press Play to run it, then change anything: masses, lengths, the forces, what the graphs show.
- Inclined Plane
28° ramp. Friction is below tan θ, so the block slides. - Sliding to a Stop Research
A block slides across a floor with μ = 0.1: the speed falls linearly at μg and it stops after s = v²/(2μg). - Crate on a Slope Held by a Rope Research
A 50 kg crate on a smooth 20° slope: the rope carries T = mg sin θ = 168 N. Its free-body diagram is drawn. - Hooke's Law: Three Masses on Springs Research
1, 2 and 3 kg hang on identical 40 N/m springs: the extension is mg/k, so twice the mass stretches the spring twice as far. - Archimedes: What Floats, and How Deep Research
Cubes of cork, pine, ice and steel in a tank of water. A floating cube sinks until the water it pushes away weighs as much as it does: d = s ρ/ρ_water. Steel sinks. - Apparent Weight in a Lift Research
A passenger on a scale in a lift that goes up and down: the scale reads N = m(g + a), more while the lift speeds up going up (or brakes going down), less the other way round. - A Block on a Board: When Does It Slip? Research
A board on ice is pulled harder and harder. Friction carries the block on it along until F = μ g (m₁ + m₂); then the block slips and the accelerations part. - Measure friction by tilting Python Research
Tilt a platform slowly: the block slips when tan θ = μ.