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Physics MicroSims

This section contains interactive MicroSims covering topics in high school physics including kinematics, dynamics, energy, momentum, rotational motion, oscillations, waves, and electricity. Each simulation allows students to explore physics concepts through hands-on experimentation and visualization.

  • 2D Collision Vector Diagram

    2D Collision Vector Diagram Interactive visualization showing momentum vector conservation in two dimensions before and after collision.

  • Action-Reaction Pairs

    Action-Reaction Pairs Interactive demonstration of Newton's Third Law through six real-world scenarios showing action-reaction force pairs. We have an example of a book on a table, a hammer and a nail, a rocket in space, a swimmer and tires on a car.

  • Angled Projectile Explorer

    Angled Projectile Explorer Interactive simulation exploring how launch angle and speed affect projectile trajectory, range, and maximum height.

  • Angled Tension Components Angled Tension Components Screen image Interactive visualization showing how the angle of an applied force affects its horizontal and vertical components.

  • Angular Displacement Visualization

    Angular Displacement Visualization An interactive MicroSim demonstrating angular displacement with a rotating disk showing how different points at various radii travel different arc lengths.

  • Angular Momentum Vector Visualization

    Angular Momentum Vector Visualization Visualize angular momentum as a vector quantity showing the right-hand rule for determining direction.

  • Comparative Angular Velocities Chart

    An interactive horizontal bar chart comparing angular velocities of common rotating objects on a logarithmic scale.

  • Atwood Machine Free-Body Diagram

    Atwood FBD Interactive visualization of free-body diagrams for the Atwood machine showing how to set up and solve the equations.

  • Atwood Machine

    Atwood Machine Interactive simulation of the classic Atwood machine with adjustable masses.

  • Banked Curve Force Analysis

    Banked Curve Force Analysis Interactive force analysis diagram for a vehicle on a banked curve showing how the normal force provides centripetal force.

  • Banked Curve Speed Analysis

    Banked Curve Speed Analysis Interactive exploration of how vehicle speed relative to ideal speed determines friction requirements on banked curves.

  • Bass and Treble Controls

    Bass and Treble Controls Interactive simulation of classic amplifier frequency response with adjustable bass and treble controls showing how EQ affects audio signals.

  • Branches of Physics

    Branches of Physics Overview of 11 major branches of physics and their subbranches as an interactive dependency graph visualization.

  • Capacitor Charging and Discharging

    Interactive simulation showing how capacitors store and release energy in RC circuits with exponential charging/discharging behavior.

  • Car on Curve

    Car on Curve Interactive simulation showing centripetal force requirements for a car navigating a curve.

  • Centripetal Force Visualization

    Interactive visualization showing the relationship between velocity, centripetal acceleration, and centripetal force in circular motion.

  • Charging by Induction

    Charging by Induction An interactive step-by-step simulation demonstrating how objects can be charged through electrostatic induction without direct contact.

  • Collision Types Comparison

    Collision Types Interactive simulation comparing elastic, inelastic, and perfectly inelastic collisions demonstrating conservation of momentum and kinetic energy.

  • Elastic Collisions

    Interactive simulation demonstrating elastic collisions between particles of varying masses, showing momentum and energy conservation.

  • Coulomb's Law Force Calculator

    Coulomb's Law Force Calculator Interactive simulation demonstrating Coulomb's Law, which describes the electrostatic force between two point charges. Users can change the polarity and strength of each change and change the distance between the charges.

  • Current Animation

    Current Animation A MicroSim demonstrating the animation of current in wires with animated electron flow representation. Illustrates how the current increases with higher voltage from a battery and how current decreases with higher resistance in the resistor. Also shows the difference between standard current flow and electron flow.

  • Types of Damping Comparison

    Damping Types Interactive simulation showing a mass-spring system with real-time displacement graph for underdamped, critically damped, and overdamped oscillators.

  • DC Motor Operation

    DC Motor Operation An interactive visualization demonstrating how DC motors convert electrical energy to mechanical rotation through electromagnetic forces.

  • Distance vs Displacement

    Distance vs Displacement An interactive MicroSim that helps students understand the difference between distance (total path length) and displacement (straight-line change in position).

  • Doppler Effect Simulation

    Doppler Effect An interactive MicroSim demonstrating how source motion affects observed frequency through wavefront compression and expansion. The user can change the speed of motion as a percent of the speed of sound and and the frequency of the sound.

  • Driven Oscillator

    Driven Oscillator Interactive simulation showing how a driven oscillator responds to different driving frequencies, demonstrating resonance.

  • Elasticity

    Elasticity A MicroSim demonstrating how elasticity affects energy loss when a ball bounces off surfaces. The user can change the elasticity of the ball and see how this change effects the bouncing of the ball.

  • Electric Field Lines Visualization

    Electric Field Lines Interactive simulation visualizing electric field patterns around point charges demonstrating electrostatic field direction and strength.

  • Energy Diagram Explorer

    Energy Diagram Explorer Interactive tool to explore potential energy curves, turning points, and equilibrium positions for four different energy diagrams: Harmonic Oscillator, Gravity Valley, Double Well and Gaussian Barrier.

  • Energy Efficiency Comparison

    Energy Efficiency Comparison Interactive infographic comparing energy efficiency across common devices and processes. Users can filter by device type and click on a specific device to see additional details.

  • Equilibrium Classification Workflow

    Equilibrium Classification Workflow Interactive decision tree to classify objects as in static equilibrium, dynamic equilibrium, or not in equilibrium.

  • Exoplanet Transit Detection

    Exoplanet Interactive simulation demonstrating how astronomers detect exoplanets using the transit method showing brightness dips as a planet passes.

  • Figure Skater Angular Momentum

    Figure Skater Angular Momentum Interactive simulation showing how a figure skater's spin speed changes when pulling arms in or extending them out.

  • Fluid Dynamics

    Fluid Dynamics Interactive simulation demonstrating fluid flow around an obstacle with particle collisions and adjustable flow parameters.

  • Force vs Time Impact Comparison

    Chart comparing how extending impact time reduces peak force while maintaining the same impulse.

  • Free-Body Diagram Tutorial

    Free-Body Diagram Tutorial An interactive tutorial teaching students how to draw and interpret free-body diagrams through progressively complex scenarios.

  • Free Fall Motion

    Free Fall Motion Interactive simulation of objects falling under gravity with adjustable initial conditions.

  • Friction Coefficient Chart

    Friction Coefficient Chart Interactive chart comparing static and kinetic friction coefficients for common material pairs.

  • FFT Basic Visualization

    FFT Basic Visualization Interactive demonstration of the Fast Fourier Transform showing the relationship between time domain waveforms and frequency domain spectra.

  • FFT Microphone Visualization

    FFT Microphone Visualization Real-time frequency spectrum analyzer using microphone input to visualize sound frequencies with adjustable display parameters.

  • Interactive Graph Analysis

    Graph Analysis An interactive tool for analyzing physics graphs, extracting slope, intercepts, and area under curve with physical interpretations.

  • Learning Graph Viewer

    Learning Graph Viewer Viewer that reads a learning graph and provides search functionality and taxonomy legend controls.

  • Gravitational Attractor

    Gravitational Attractor Interactive simulation demonstrating gravitational attraction between particles and a central attractor showing orbital motion.

  • Hooke's Law Interactive

    Hooke's Law Explore the relationship between force, displacement, and spring constant according to Hooke's Law with an interactive spring system.

  • Horizontal Projection

    Horizontal Projection Interactive simulation demonstrating that objects with different horizontal velocities but same initial height hit the ground simultaneously.

  • Inclined Plane Force Decomposition

    Inclined Plane Force Decomposition Interactive diagram showing how to decompose weight into components parallel and perpendicular to an inclined plane.

  • Inclined Plane Motion

    Inclined Plane Motion Interactive simulation of a block on an inclined plane with adjustable angle and friction.

  • Inertia Demonstration

    Inertia Demonstration An interactive MicroSim demonstrating how mass affects inertia by comparing how different objects respond to identical forces.

  • Kinematic Equation Selector

    Kinematic Equation Selector Interactive decision tool to help students select the appropriate kinematic equation based on known and unknown variables.

  • Law of Reflection

    Law of Reflection An interactive MicroSim demonstrating that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.

  • Longitudinal Wave Animation

    Longitudinal Wave Animation An interactive MicroSim demonstrating how particles in a longitudinal wave move parallel to the wave propagation direction.

  • Metric Scale Zoom

    Metric Scale Zoom An interactive MicroSim that helps students visualize the relative scale of metric prefixes and practice conversions.

  • Microscopic Surface Contact

    Microscopic Surface Contact Interactive visualization showing how microscopic surface irregularities create friction between two surfaces.

  • Momentum Comparison

    Momentum Comparison Interactive visualization showing how mass and velocity combine to determine momentum as a vector quantity.

  • Multistage Rocket Efficiency

    Multistage Rocket Efficiency Interactive chart comparing delta-v achieved by single-stage vs multi-stage rockets using the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation.

  • Newton's Second Law

    Newton's Second Law Interactive visualization of the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration (F = ma).

  • Normal Force on Inclined Planes

    Normal Force on Inclined Planes Interactive visualization showing how normal force changes with incline angle and how weight decomposes into components.

  • Ohm's Law Interactive Calculator

    Ohm's Law Interactive Calculator An interactive visualization exploring the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance with animated circuit and V-I curves.

  • Applications of Oscillations

    Applications of Oscillations Interactive radial infographic showing how oscillation principles apply across medicine, architecture, music, transportation, electronics, and sports.

  • Simple vs Physical Pendulum

    Simple vs Physical Pendulum Side-by-side animated comparison showing the differences between simple and physical pendulums.

  • Period, Frequency, and Angular Frequency

    Period, Frequency, and Angular Frequency Interactive infographic showing the mathematical relationships between period, frequency, and angular frequency with live calculations.

  • Position-Time Graph Analyzer

    Position-Time Graph Analyzer Interactive tool for learning to interpret position-time graphs with animated objects and tangent line analysis.

  • Potential Energy Comparison Chart

    Potential Energy Comparison Chart Grouped bar chart comparing gravitational and elastic potential energy across different scenarios.

  • Precision vs Accuracy

    Precision vs Accuracy An interactive visualization demonstrating the difference between precision (repeatability) and accuracy (correctness) in measurements.

  • Projectile Motion

    Projectile Motion A MicroSim demonstrating parabolic trajectories of projectiles with controls for launch angle and power. Users can explore the impact that changing the initial angle of projectile has on the distance traveled.

  • Projectile Motion with Gravity

    Projectile Motion A MicroSim demonstrating the effect of gravity on projectile motion with adjustable gravity control and trajectory visualization. User can see the impact of gravity on how far a projectile will travel.

  • Pulley Mechanical Advantage

    Pulley Mechanical Advantage Interactive comparison of three pulley configurations showing how mechanical advantage increases with system complexity.

  • Relative Velocity Solver

    Relative Velocity Solver Interactive tool for visualizing and solving relative velocity problems with two moving objects in 2D.

  • Resonance Amplitude vs Frequency

    Resonance Amplitude vs Frequency Interactive graph showing how oscillation amplitude depends on driving frequency and damping level.

  • River Crossing Relative Velocity

    River Crossing Interactive simulation demonstrating relative velocity through a river crossing scenario with current and swimmer velocities.

  • Rocket Propulsion Diagram

    Rocket Propulsion Diagram Interactive visualization showing momentum conservation in rocket propulsion with exhaust gases.

  • Roller Coaster Energy Conservation

    Roller Coaster Energy Conservation Interactive simulation showing energy transformation between kinetic and potential energy on a roller coaster.

  • Energy Distribution in Rolling Objects

    Energy Distribution in Rolling Objects Stacked bar chart showing how kinetic energy is split between translational and rotational components for different rolling objects.

  • Rolling Motion Velocity Vectors

    Rolling Motion Velocity Vectors Visualize how velocity vectors at different points on a rolling wheel combine translational and rotational motion.

  • Real-World Rotational Applications

    Real-World Rotational Applications Interactive infographic showing 12 real-world applications of rotational motion across engineering, sports, and natural phenomena.

  • Rotational Inertia Race

    Rotational Inertia Race Race different shaped objects down a ramp to see how rotational inertia affects acceleration.

  • Rotational Kinematics Solver

    Rotational Kinematics Solver Interactive tool for solving rotational kinematics problems with animated visualization and real-time graphs.

  • Scientific Method Workflow

    Scientific Method Workflow Overview of the scientific method as an interactive flowchart showing all steps and decision points.

  • Series vs Parallel Circuit Comparison

    Series vs Parallel Circuit Comparison An interactive side-by-side comparison of series and parallel circuits showing current flow, voltage distribution, and failure behavior.

  • Energy Transformation in SHM

    Energy Transformation in SHM Animated bar chart showing how kinetic and potential energy transform during oscillation while total energy remains constant.

  • Position, Velocity, and Acceleration in SHM

    Position, Velocity, and Acceleration in SHM Visualize how position, velocity, and acceleration change during simple harmonic motion and understand their phase relationships.

  • Simple Pendulum Period Investigation

    Simple Pendulum Investigate how pendulum length affects period and verify the T = 2π√(L/g) relationship through hands-on measurement.

  • Sine Wave Parameters

    Sine Wave Parameters Interactive demonstration of sine wave parameters including amplitude, period, and phase with adjustable sliders.

  • Snell's Law Refraction

    Snell's Law Refraction An interactive MicroSim demonstrating refraction at a boundary between two media using Snell's Law.

  • Solar System

    Solar System Interactive simulation of the inner solar system demonstrating Newtonian gravity, orbital mechanics, and Kepler's laws.

  • Standing Waves on a String

    Standing Waves on a String An interactive MicroSim visualizing standing wave patterns, nodes, antinodes, and harmonics on a vibrating string.

  • Static Friction

    Static Friction Interactive demonstration of static friction responding to applied force and transitioning to kinetic friction.

  • Tacoma Narrows Bridge Timeline

    Tacoma Narrows Bridge Timeline Interactive timeline showing the sequence of events on November 7, 1940 when resonance destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

  • Tension Force Diagram

    Tension Force Diagram Interactive visualization demonstrating how tension forces act within a rope and on connected objects.

  • Three-Graph Motion Analyzer

    Three-Graph Motion Analyzer Shows synchronized position, velocity, and acceleration graphs demonstrating their mathematical relationships.

  • Interactive Torque Diagram

    Interactive Torque Diagram Explore how torque depends on force magnitude, position, and angle with this interactive lever simulation.

  • Tone Generator

    Tone Generator Interactive tone generator allowing users to create and hear audio tones at different frequencies to explore pitch and frequency relationships.

  • Transverse Wave Animation

    Transverse Wave Animation An interactive MicroSim demonstrating how particles in a transverse wave move perpendicular to the wave propagation direction.

  • Uniform vs Accelerated Motion

    Uniform vs Accelerated Motion Side-by-side comparison of position, velocity, and acceleration graphs for uniform and uniformly accelerated motion.

  • Variable Force Work Calculation

    Variable Force Work Interactive visualization showing work as the area under a force-position curve.

  • Vector Addition

    Vector Addition An interactive visualization demonstrating both graphical (tip-to-tail) and component methods of vector addition.

  • Vector Basics

    Vector Basics An interactive visualization teaching how vectors are represented graphically with magnitude, direction, and component decomposition.

  • Vector Components

    Vector Components Interactive diagram showing how 2D vectors decompose into horizontal and vertical components using trigonometry.

  • Velocity vs Speed Comparison

    Velocity vs Speed Comparison An interactive comparison showing scenarios where speed and velocity differ, helping students distinguish between these concepts.

  • Velocity-Time Graph Area Calculator

    Velocity-Time Graph Area Calculator Interactive tool demonstrating that the area under a velocity-time curve equals displacement.

  • Two-Source Wave Interference

    Two-Source Wave Interference An interactive MicroSim demonstrating constructive and destructive interference patterns from two coherent wave sources.

  • Weight in Different Gravitational Fields

    Weight in Different Gravitational Fields Interactive comparison of how weight changes while mass stays constant across different celestial bodies.

  • Work-Energy Theorem

    Work-Energy Theorem Interactive demonstration showing how net work equals change in kinetic energy.

  • Work Scenarios

    Work Scenarios Interactive diagram showing how the angle between force and displacement affects work done.