Particle Simulator


Press play! This is a project from 2011 I put together to play around with the idea of programming physics. You can tweak gravity, form masses of particles, and try to achieve orbit. Check out the full site at particlesimulator.com One thing to observe by increasing the number of particles to a large amount (approx 100) is how our planets were formed. Watch as the particles pool together to form small groupings and then finally all come together in the center to form one large mass. Since they don't stick together you have to use a little imagination, but it's clear that with just gravity planets could easily form from drifting space dust. Another related idea is the question of how something with incredible mass such as the earth can have such a strong gravitational field, even though it is made up of particles which, by themselves, would have miniscule gravitational effect. The answer is obvious, however it is clearly demonstrated by the particle simulator. When particles pool together, nearby particles feel a net force caused by all of the particles in the pool. So by summing all of the force vectors together, we can achieve a much stronger force than any single particle can contribute by itself.

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow...I remember this!! Nice to see it's still alive :)

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