- Electricity and Magnetism Applets from Molecular Expressions
- General Physics Applets
- Java Applets for Physics Education
- Applets on Physics by Walter Fendt
- PhET - Simulations on Physics
- Physics Applets by Oregon Univeirsity
- Physics Flash Animations
- Physics Interactive Lybrary
- Online Physics Lab
- The Applet Collection
You may also find many other Physics applets at Internet. Go ahead!
Try this (too big!) applet on projectile motion!
Learn also Physics with Flash animations
Try this (too big!) applet on projectile motion!
Learn also Physics with Flash animations
There are ver 100 animations listed below. Some are simple; others are more complex. The most
recent animations added to the list are identified. Source: Flash Animations for Physics.
Category
|
Title
|
Description/Comment
|
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Chaos
|
Bunimovich Stadium
|
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Chaos
|
Logistic Map
|
The logistic map, which demonstrates the bifurcations of the population
levels preceding the transition to chaos. Requires Flash 6; file size is 15k.
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Chaos
|
Lorenz Attractor
|
Looking at the Lorenz Attractor in a chaotic regime, allowing the
attractor to be rotated. Requires Flash 6; file size is 550k.
|
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Chaos
|
Three-body Gravitational Interaction
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
Displacement and Distance
|
A simple animation showing the difference between the distance and
the displacement. Requires Flash 5; file size is 5k.
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
Constant Acceleration
|
1-dimensional kinematics of a body undergoing constant acceleration.
Includes visually integrating the acceleration and velocity graphs, and
visually differentiating the position and velocity graphs. Requires Flash 6; file size is
30k.
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
Motion Animation
|
A car with a non-zero initial speed has a constant acceleration whose
value can be controlled by the user. Requires Flash 6; file size is 27k.
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
Dropping Two Balls Near the
Earth's Surface
|
Two balls
falling near the Earth's surface under the influence of gravity. The initial
horizontal speed of one of the balls may be varied. Requires Flash 6;
file size is 11k.
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
Galilean Relativity
|
Illustrating Galilean relativity using his example of dropping a ball from
the top of the mast of a sailboat. Requires Flash 6; file size is 22k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Foucault Pendulum
|
A simple snimation viewing a Foulcault Pendulum at the North Pole from an
inertial frame above the Earth. See also the Foucault Pendulum animation in
the Relativity section. Requires Flash 7 and ActionScript 2; file size
is 1.3 M .
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Projectile Motion
|
Firing a projectile when air resistance is negligible. The initial height
and angle may be adjusted. Requires Flash 6; file size is 36k.
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
Kinematics of Projectile Motion
|
A visualisation exploration of the kinematics of projectile motion. Requires Flash 6; file size is 9k.
|
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Classical Mechanics
|
The Monkey and the Hunter
|
An animation of the classic lecture demonstration. The actual
demonstration is preferable if possible; then this animation can be given to
the students for later review. Requires Flash 6; file size is 21k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Racing Balls
|
Two balls roll down two different low-friction tracks near the Earth's
surface. The user is invited to predict which ball will reach the end of the
track first. This problem is difficult for many beginning Physics students.
Requires Flash 6 Release 79; file size is 140k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Racing Skiers
|
The "Racing Balls" animation which is accessed via the above
line sometimes triggers cognitive dissonance and rejection in beginning
students. For some of these, changing the balls to skiers helps to clarify
the situation, and that is what this animation does. The "Racing
Balls" one should be used with students first. Requires Flash 6 Release 79; file
size is 145k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Air Track Collisions
|
Elastic and inelastic collisions on an air track, with different masses
for the target cart. Requires
Flash 6; file size is 70k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Newton's Cradle
|
A small animation of Newton's Cradle, sometimes known as Newton's Balls. Requires Flash 6; file size is 1k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Hooke's Law
|
A simple animation illustrating Hooke's Law. Requires Flash 6; file size
is 13k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Coordinate System for
Circular Motion
|
An unusual coordinate system for describing circular motion. Requires
Flash 6; file size is 94k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Vertical Circular Motion
|
A mass is in circular motion in the vertical plane. We show the weight
and force exerted by the tension in the string. Requires Flash 6; file size is 7k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Forces on a Pendulum
|
The weight, force due to tension, and total force exerted on the bob of a
pendulum are shown. Requires
Flash 6; file size is 8k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Motion in a Noninertial Frame
|
The motion of a ball in uniform circular motion is viewed by an observer
in a rotating reference frame. Requires Flash 6; file size is 12j,
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Rolling Disc
|
A simple animation that traces the motion of a point on a rolling disc. Requires Flash 6; file size is
31k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Right-Hand Screw Rule
|
The direction of the angular velocity vector given by a right-hand screw
rule. Requires Flash 6; file size is 196k. Also linked to from theVectors section.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Direction of the Angular
Velocity Vector
|
A simple animation of the direction of the angular velocity vector. Requires Flash 6; file size is
125k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Curling
|
Curling rocks and tori sliding across surfaces. Requires Flash 6; file
size is 601k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
How Does a Cat Land on its
Feet?
|
The saying is that cats always land on their feet. This animation
explains how they do this. Requires Flash 6; file size is 81k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Precession of a Spinning Top
|
A simple animaiton of a spinning top which precesses. Requires Flash 5;
file size is 739k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Simple Harmonic Motion I
|
Demonstrating that one component of uniform circular motion is simple
harmonic motion. Requires
Flash 6; file size is 10k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Simple Harmonic Motion II
|
Illustrating and comparing Simple Harmonic Motion for a spring-mass
system and for a oscillating hollow cylinder. Requires Flash 5; file size is 20k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Damped Simple Harmonic Motion
|
The damping factor may be controlled with a slider. The maximum available
damping factor of 100 corresponds to critical damping. Requires Flash 6; file size is
12k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Driven Simple Harmonic Motion
|
A harmonic oscillator driven by a harmonic force. The frequency and
damping factor of the oscillator may be varied. Requires Flash 6; file size is
199k.
|
|
Classical Mechanics
|
Coupled Harmonic Oscillators
|
||
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Coulomb's Law
|
A simulation of an experiment to determine the dependence of the
electrostatic force on distance. Requires Flash 6; file size is 15k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Comparing a DC circuit to
the flow of water.
|
A simple DC circuit has a DC voltage source lighting a light bulb.Also
shown is a hydraulic system in which water drives a turbine. The two systems
are shown to be similar. Requires Flash 6; file size is 51k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
A Light Switch
|
A simple animation of how a common light Switch works. Requires Flash 6;
file size is 4kb.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Field Lines
|
Illustrating representing an electric field with field lines. Requires
Flash 5; file size is 22k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
A Simple Buzzer
|
A simple buzzer consisting of a battery, a flexibile metal strip, a piece
of iron, and some wire. Requires Flash 6; file size is 20k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Electric Field of an
Oscillating Charge
|
An electric charge is executing simple harmonic motion, and the animation
shows the electric field lines around it. Requires Flash 6 and a computer
with reasonable power; file size is 40k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Electric and Magnetic Fields
of an Oscillating Charge
|
A 3 dimensional animation of the "far" fields of an oscillating
charge. Requires
Flash 6; file size is 120k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Circular Polarisation
|
Circular polarisation generated from a linearly polarised electromagnetic
wave by a quarter-wave plate. Requires Flash 6; file size is785k.
|
|
Electricity and Magnetism
|
Spinning Charges and an
Inhomogeneous Magnetic Field 1
|
A spinning charged object passes through an inhomogeneous magnetic field.
This animation is also used in a discussion of the Stern-Gerlach experiment. Requires Flash 6; file size is
74k.
|
|
Spinning Charges and an
Inhomogeneous Magnetic Field 2
|
A spinning charged object passes through an array of 3 magnets each
producing an inhomogeneous magnetic field. This animation is also used in a
discussion of the Stern-Gerlach experiment. Requires Flash 6; file size is 79k.
|
||
Fluid Mechanics
|
Viscous Motion
|
Dropping a ball in a viscous liquid. The densities, liquid viscosity, and
size of the ball are controllable. Requies Flash 6; file size is 55k.
|
|
Dropping a Ball From the CN
Tower
|
A ball is dropped through the air from 350 m above the ground. The ball
may be a billiard ball, a 5-pin bowling ball or a 10-pin bowling ball. The
5-pin bowling ball clearly shows the drag crisis. Requires Flash
7; file size is 133k.
|
||
Micrometer Caliper
|
Measuring with a Micrometer
|
A simple animation of using a micrometer to measure the width of a
pencil. Requires
Flash 5; file size is 13k.
|
|
Micrometer Caliper
|
An Exercise in Reading a
Micrometer
|
||
Miscellaneous
|
A Simple Piston and Boyle's
Law
|
A small animation showing a piston compressing a sample of gas. As the
volume of the gas goes down, the density and therefore the pressure goes up. Requires Flash 5; file size is
3.9k.
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
Derivative of the Sine
Function
|
An animation illustrating that the derivative of a sine function is a
cosine. Requires
Flash 6, file size is 20k.
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
Area of a Circle As a Limit
|
Illustrating that the area of a circle is a limit of the sum of the areas
of interior triangles as the number of triangles goes to infinity. Requires Flash 5; file size is
12k.
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
Integration
|
||
Nuclear
|
Scattering
|
Simulating nuclear scattering experiments by scattering ball bearings off
targets. This is based on an experiment in the First Year Physics Laboratory
at the University of Toronto. Requires Flash 6 Release 79; file size is 182k.
|
|
Nuclear
|
Nuclear Decays
|
The decay of 500 atoms of the fictional element Balonium. Uses a proper
Monte Carlo engine to simulate real decays. Requires Flash 6, file size is 27k.
|
|
Nuclear
|
Pair Production
|
A simple illustration of electron-positron production and annihilation. Requires Flash 5, file size is
21k.
|
|
Nuclear
|
The Interaction of X-rays
With Matter
|
||
Optics
|
Rotating a Mirror and the
Reflected Ray
|
Illustrating that when a mirror is rotated by an angle, the reflected ray
is rotated by twice that angle. Requires Flash 6; file size is 20k.
|
|
Optics
|
Reflection and Refraction
|
Illustrating reflection and refraction, including total internal
reflection. Requires
Flash 6; file size is 33k.
|
|
Optics
|
Object-Image Relationships
|
Ray tracing for a thin lens showing the formation of a real image of an
object. Requires
Flash 5; file size is 17k.
|
|
Optics
|
Using an Optical Bench
|
||
Oscilloscope
|
The Time Base Control 1
|
Shows the effect of changing the time base control on the display of an
oscilloscope. There is no input voltage. Requires Flash 5; file size is 10k.
|
|
Oscilloscope
|
The Time Base Control 2
|
Shows the effect of changing the time base control on the display when
there is an input voltage varying in time. Requires Flash 5; file size is 12k.
|
|
Oscilloscope
|
The Time Base Control 3
|
Shows the effect of changing the time base control on the display when
there is an input voltage varying in time when the frequency of the voltage
is high. Requires
Flash 5; file size is 17k.
|
|
Oscilloscope
|
The Voltage Control
|
Shows the effect of changing the voltage control on the display. Requires Flash 5; file size is
10k.
|
|
Oscilloscope
|
The Trigger
|
||
Quantum Mechanics
|
The Bohr Model
|
The photon excitation and photon emission of the electron in a Hydrogen
atom as described by the Bohr model. Requires Flash 6: file size is 77k.
|
|
Quantum Mechanics
|
Circular Standing Waves
|
Illustrating how thinking about the electron as a de Broglie wave
"explains" the Bohr model.
|
|
Quantum Mechanics
|
Complementarity
|
Here we visualise a hydrogen atom, which consists of an electron in orbit
around a proton. In one view the electron is a particle and
in the other view it is a probability distribution. The reality
is neither view by itself, but a composite of the two. Requires Flash 5; file size is
15k.
|
|
Quantum Mechanics
|
The Double Slit Experiment 1
|
The famous "Feynman Double Slit Experiment" for electrons. Here
we fire one electron at a time from the electron gun, and observe the
build-up of electron positions on the screen. Requires Flash 5; file size is 15k.
|
|
Quantum Mechanics
|
The Double Slit Experiment 2
|
Here we illustrate Complementarity using the double slit
experiment. We view the path of the electron from the gun to the observing
screen as a particle and as a wave. Requires Flash 5; file size is 33k.
|
|
Quantum Mechanics
|
Stern-Gelach Filters
|
||
Quantum Mechanics
|
Bell's Theorem
|
Based on an analysis by Mermin, this animation explores correlation
measurements of entangled pairs. Requires Flash 6; file size is 38k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Michelson-Morley Experiment
|
A simple analogy involving two swimmers that sets up the Michelson-Morley
Experiment. Requires Flash
6; file size is 15k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Time Dilation
|
A demonstration that the phenomenon of time dilation from the special
theory of relativity necessarily follows from the idea that the speed of
light is the same value for all observers. Requires Flash 6; file size is 55k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Deriving Length Contraction
|
A tutorial that shows how relativistic length contraction must follow
from the existence of time dilation. Requires Flash 5; file size is 37k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Length Contraction is Invisible
|
This series of animations demonstrates that the relativistic length
contraction is invisible. Requires Flash 5; file size is 90k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Deriving the Relativity of
Simultaneity
|
A tutorial that shows how the relative nature of the simultaneity of two
events must follow from the existence of length contraction. Requires Flash 5; file size is
39k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Twin Paradox
|
There are many ways of approaching this classic "paradox". Here
we discuss it as an example of the relativistic Doppler effect. Requires Flash 6; file size is
116k.
|
|
Relativity
|
Foucault Pendulum and Mach's
Principle
|
This began as an animation of the Foucault Pendulum, but then I
generalised it to illustrate Mach's Principle. See also the simple Foucault
Pendulum in the Classical Mechanics section. Requires Flash 6, file size is 1.5M.
|
|
Relativity
|
Advance of the Perihelion
|
||
Sound Waves
|
Beats
|
Illustrating beats between 2 oscillators of nearly identical frequencies.
Requires
Flash 6; file size is 215k.
|
|
Sound Waves
|
Doppler Effect: Wave Fronts
|
Illustrating the wave fronts of a wave for a moving source. There are a
few similar animations on the web: this is my re-invention of that wheel. Requires Flash 6; file size is 11k
|
|
Sound Waves
|
Doppler Effect
|
Illustrating the classical Doppler Effect for sound waves. Requires Flash
6; file size is 43k.
|
|
Sound Waves
|
Tuning Fork
|
A small animation of a vibrating tuning fork producing a sound wave. Requires Flash 5; file size is
2.7k.
|
|
Sound Waves
|
Pressure and Displacement Waves
|
This animation shows air molecules vibrating, with each molecule
"driving" its neighbour to the right. It is used to illustrate that
when the displacement wave is at a maximum then the density of the molecules,
and thus the pressure wave, is at a minimum and vice versa. Requires Flash 5; file size is 30k
|
|
Sound Waves
|
Temperament
|
||
Vectors
|
Adding 2 Vectors
|
A simple demonstration of adding 2 vectors graphically. Also demonstrates
that vector addition is commutative. Requires Flash 5; file size is 7k.
|
|
Vectors
|
Adding 3 Vectors
|
A simple demonstration of adding 3 vectors graphically. Also demonstrates
that vector addition is associative. Requires Flash 5; file size is 10k.
|
|
Vectors
|
Subtracting 2 Vectors
|
A simple demonstration that subtracting 2 vectors graphically is the same
as adding the first one to the negative of the second one. Requires Flash 5; file size is
4.5k.
|
|
Vectors
|
Component Addition
|
A simple demonstration that to add 2 vectors numerically, just add the
cartesian components. Requires
Flash 5; file size is 16k.
|
|
Vectors
|
Unit Vectors
|
A simple animation of unit vectors and vector addition. Requires Flash 6;
file size is 12k.
|
|
Vectors
|
Dot Product
|
A simple demonstration of the relation between the dot product of 2
vectors and the angle between them. Requires Flash 6; file size is 8k.
|
|
Vectors
|
Right-Hand Screw Rule
|
The direction of the angular velocity vector given by a right-hand screw
rule. Requires Flash 6; file size is 196k. Also linked to from theClassical
Mechanics section.
|
|
Vectors
|
Cross Product
|
||
Waves
|
Traveling Waves
|
Illustrating the sign of the time term for traveling waves moving from
left to right or right to left. Requires Flash 6; file size is 42k.
|
|
Waves
|
A Plane Wave Travelling
Through Two Mediums
|
Illustrating the relation between wavelengths and frequencies of a wave
when it travels from one medium to another. Requires Flash 6; file size is 5.4k.
|
|
Waves
|
Refraction
|
The previous animation shows wave fronts entering the mediums with a zero
angle of inciddence. Here the angle of incidence is not zero. Requires Flash
6; file size is 11kb
|
|
Waves
|
Reflections From a Barrier
|
A wave is reflected from a barrier with a phase reversal. This is the
behaviour for transverse waves and the displacement aspect
of a longitudinal wave. Requires Flash 5; file size is 42k.
|
|
Waves
|
Reflections From Two Barriers
|
A wave is reflected back and forth between two barriers, setting up a
standing wave. Requires
Flash 5; file size is 41k.
|
|
Waves
|
Standing Waves With a Node
on Both Ends
|
The first three standing waves for nodes at both ends. The frequencies of
the waves are proportional to one over the wavelength. Requires Flash 5; file size is
11k.
|
|
Waves
|
Standing Waves With a Node
on One End
|
The first three standing waves for a node at one end and an antinode at
the other. The frequencies are proportional to one over the wavelength.
Requires Flash 5; file size is 18k.
|
Source: Flash Animations for Physics.