C H AP T E R

Introduction to Physlets
Topics include animations-, units, measurement, dragging, and getting data in and out.

Illustration 1.1: Static Text Images Versus Physlet Animations

Illustration 1.1 describes how to use Physlets. First of all, a Physlet is a Physics (Java) App/ei. We use Physlets to animate physical phenomena and to ask questions regarding the phenomena. Sometimes you will need to collect data from the Physlet animation and perform calculations in order to answer the questions. Sometimes simply viewing the animation will be enough. The Physlet animations presented in Physlet Physics will be similar to the static images in your textbook. There are differences that need to be examined, however, be cause we will be making extensive use of these types of animations throughout Physlet Physics. First consider the image taken from Sir Isaac Newtons Prindpia. It is a static image depicting possible orbits of an object around Earth. We are supposed to imagine objects thrown from the mountain top with different initial velocities and imagine where they would land. (We are also supposed to imagine that for just the right conditions objects could orbit in the circles farther out from the center of Earth.) Now consider the Physlet animation of a similar situation. Illustration 1.1 shows 10 identical balls about to be thrown off a mountain top. The initial positions of the balls are identical, but they have different initial velocities. Restart. Press play to begin the animation. Note that the VCR-type buttons beneath the animation control the animation much like buttons on a VCR, CD, or DVD player. Specifically,

play starts the animation and continues it until either the animation is over or is stopped. pause pauses the animation. Press play to resume the animation. step steps the animation backward in time by one time step (the size of the time step
varies with the animation). In this animation, there is no step button. step steps the animation forward in time by one time step. reset resets the animation time to the initial time. Press play to start the animation from the beginning.

Make sure you understand what these buttons do, since you will need to use them throughout the rest of the book when you interact with the Physlets on the CD. In addition to these buttons, there are hyperlinks on the page that control which animation is played. For example, on this page, Restart reinitializes the applet to the way it was when the page was loaded. On other pages there will often be a choice of which animation to play, but Restart always gets you back to the initial condition the animation was in when the page loaded. So what is so neat about this animation compared to the static image? Plenty. Most of what you will study in physics is related to objects in motion. It is difficult to un derstand the details of the motion of an object if you are trying to describe it with a

static picture. 2 Physlet Physics Since the examples in this book are interactive animations, you can ic- tually see the details of the motion as the objects undergo their motions. Restart (or reset) the animation and play it again. What do you notice about the motion of the balls? Specifically, what can you say about the motion of the balls that have orbits inside of the red ball? What can you say about the motion of the balls that have orbits outside of the red ball? First, all of the orbits are squashed circles (called ellipses) except for the red ball that moves in a circle. Second, all of the ballsexcept the red onechange speed throughout their orbits. The inner balls travel faster near the bottom of the screen as opposed to the top, while the outer balls travel slower at the bottom of the screen as opposed to the top. (Note that we are choosing to show the complete orbits of the balls, even the ones that would have hit Earth. We do this to compare all of the orbits.) This is not something that is obvious from Newtons drawing from the Principia, but it is made clear by the animation. This effect is even easier to see with only three balls. Ghost images of the balls are placed at equal time intervals to further display this effect when you click only three balls. Dont forget to press play after selecting the hyperlink! In the natural sciences, simulations are almost always deterministic. By determinis tic, we mean that the simulation evolves in time according to a predefined mathematical model. The models we have built for this text may or may not represent physical reality. In fact, we will often present multiple models and ask you to determine which model is in agreement with experiment. Do not assume that every simulation obeys the laws of physics. It is important not to confuse deterministic with predictable. Simulations that depend on random numbers, contain large numbers of parameters, or exhibit chaos are often not predictable in the sense that the exact behavior may depend on infinitesi mal changes of initial conditions. However, even if the details of the dynamics cannot be determined, the model may still give useful information about the types of behavior that can occur.

Illustration 1.2: Animations, Units, and Measurement

Most physics problems are idealizations of actual physical situations. In many physics, problems, moving objects are set into motion before the problem even starts.This allows the problem to focus on one particular concept. Physlet animations are no different.The animations depict only a short period of time in the life of an object. Sometimes th objects start at rest, and when you press play they begin their movement. Other times, the object is already moving, even before you press play, and pressing play just starts the animation. Look for visual clues as to whether the object starts at rest or is already moving when the animation begins. Both animations on this page (Animation 1 and Animation 2; do not forget to press play) depict objects that are already moving when the animation starts (at t % 0). (Likewise, when the animation is over and you see the End of Animation message, the animation is over, but the motion of the object could continue. This continuing motion is just not depicted.) Units are important to physicists. However, computer simulations store numbers and these numbers do not have units. Calculations are performed just as they are on a pocket calculator. Restart. This can cause confusion since the time and distance units shown on the computer display do not have an a priori relationship to the real world. In. other words, we can assign the relationship to be anything we want it to be. In Animation 1. for example, the part of the animation that models the motion of an electron might define the distance unit to be 10~ 9 m, i.e., a nanometer, and the time unit to be 10 6 s, i.e., a/xs. Another part of the animation, depicting a person walking, might define position given in meters and time given in seconds (the MKS

system of units). Still another part of the animation depicts a star and might define position units to be 10 s meters and time to be Farth years. In general, you she lid look for the units specified in the problem (whether from your text or from. Physlet Physics): On the Physlet Physics CD all units are given iu boldface in the statement of the problem. The umt| for Animation 2 are given in the following paragraph. Although computer simulations allow precise control of parameters, their resolution is not infinite. The numbers used to calculate the position and velocity of a particle have finite precision, and the algorithm updates these values at discrete times. Conscqtn itly, data is only availsble on the screen at certain predefined intervals. Whenever this data is presented on screen as a numeric value, it is correct to within the last digit shown. Start Animation 2 and follow the procedures below to make position measurements (position is given lit meters and time is given in seconds). Some problems require that you click-drag the mouse inside the animation to make measurements. Try it. Place the cursor in the animation and left-click and hold down the mouse button. Now drag the mouse around to see the x and y coordinates of the mouse change in the lower left-hand corner of the animation. Notice the way the coordinates change. As you drag the mouse around can you find the origin of coordinates? This is an easy question in these animations because the coordinate axes are shown. However, the coordinate axes will not always be shown.You can always find the origin of coordinates by click-dragging the mouse. In addition, these f.r- easureraests cannot be more accurate than one screen pixel. This means that depending on. how you measure the position of an object you may get a slightly diffe; nt answer than another student in your class. For example, where is the man in Animation 2 at t = 10 s?You could get anywhere between. 19.4 nr and 20.3 rn depending on whether you are measuring the position of the man from his front, back, or center, in order to make good measurements you must be consistent. You also must be careful to choose a problem-solving approach that does not depend critically on the difference between two numbers that are almost equal. It may not be possible to extract c.crfcv'n types of informa den from an animation if the changes in the relevant parameters are too small.

Illustration 1.3: Getting Data Out

In Illustration 1.2 you learned about units and how to click-drag in an animation to get the position of objects. In this Illustration we will discuss several other ways in which data is depicted in animations. Restart.

Select Animation 1 to begin (position is given in meters and time is given in seconds). Shown in the animation is a red ball, that, when you press the play button, will move across the screen in a predefined way. A long with the red ball are depictions of the objects position: an on-screen numericalstatement of position, a data table, a graph, an arrow, and ghost images. You may of course click-drag in the animation to measure position as well. Why all of these different representations? Select Animation 1 or reset the animation and play it again. Notice how the different representations of the motion change with the motion of the ball. With a lot of practice physicists are able to look at the motion of objects and tell you the various properties of the motion. How do we do that? Mentally we have different pictures in our heads. Specifically: * on-screen numerical statements of position facilitate the measurement process, as the value is always.given.These statements can be for any variable, not just position.

*. data tables are used to compare two or more values that are changing as fin the above animation where time and position are changing. graphs are used to summarize all of the data corresponding to the motion of an object that occurs over a time interval.The graph summarizes all of the data shown in the on-screen calculation and the data table. When you get a good-looking graph, you can always right-click on it to clone the graph and resize it for a better view.Try it! arrows 5j w a vector quantity. In the above animation the arrow shows the position veo Notice that unlike the on-screen calculation and the data table, die arrow d: both a number and a direction (we call such things vectors). * ghost ... are used to represent what is called a motion diagram. We use motion diagrams to help facilitate a mental picture of the motion. In the above animations, the ghost images are placed at equal time intervals so you do not have to do this in your head. We never set up an animation to give you all of these depictions of motion simultaneously as we have done above.We usually pick one or two representations that best depict the phenomena. Select Animation 2 (position is given in meters and time is given in seconds) to see the depictions of velocity. Note that this, and most, animations depict motion that started before the animation begins and continues beyond the time that the animation ends. In the animations on this page, the ball always has, and always will, move to the right at 3 m/s.
When you get a good-looking graph, right-click on it to clone the graph and resize it for a better view.

Exploration 1.1: Click-Drag to Get Position

Some problems require that you click-drag the mouse inside the animation to make measurements. These measurements cannot be more accurate than one screen pixel. This means that depending on how you measure the position of an ob ject you may get a slightly different answer than another student in your class. Restart. Use the following techniques (position is given in meters and time is given in seconds) to measure the position of the man in the x direction as a function of time: a. Pause the animation at t = 0 s (you may have to step back or reinitialize or reset the animation). b. With the cursor in the animation, hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the center of the man to measure his position in the x direction. c. Step forward by 2 s and record the time and the mans new position in the x direction. d. Repeat these measurements for t 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 s. Look ;<t show data in table after you have finished part (d). Be sure to take a close look at the data table. e. Do ye? answers agree with the table? Why or why not?

Chapter Introduction to Physlets 5

Exploration 1.2: Input Data, Numbers

Exploration 1.2 shows 10 identical balls about to be thrown off a mountaintop (position is given in arbitrary units and time is given in arbitrary units). The initial positions of the balls are identical, but they have different initial velocities.The difference in orbital trajectory, therefore, is due to the balls initial velocities. Restart. We

6 Physlet Physics will explore how we can get numerical values into an animation and therefore change the animation depicted on the screen. Click the set value and play button. Now change the value of the initial position, y 0? by typing in the text box and then click the set value and play button again. a. b. c. Find the limits of the values you can type in the text box. Why do you think these values have been chosen? Now try typing in abcd.What happens?

Exploration 1.3: Input Data, Formulas

In many animations you will be expected to enter a formula to control the animation (position is given in centimeters and time is given in seconds). Restart. In Exploration 1.3, you are to enter in a function x(i) to control the position of the toy yellow Lamborghini. There are a few important rules for entering functions. Notice that the default value in the text box is 3 * i and NOT 3 T h i s is the way the computer understands multiplication. You must enter in the multiplication sign * every time you mean to multiply two things together. Remove the * and see what happens. You get an error and you can see what you entered. Division is represented as i/2 and NOT t\2. In addition, the Physlet understands the following functions: sin(a) asin(a) step (a) abs(a) cos(a) acos(a) sqrt(a) ceil(a) tan(a) atan(a) sqr(a) floor(a) ' sinh(a) asinh (a) exp(a) round (a) cosh(a) tanh(a) acosh(a) atanh(a) lo a ln(a) g( )....... sign(a) int(a)

frac(a)

where a represents the variable expected in the function (here it is i). Try the following functions to control the Lamborghini (note that you are controlling x(f) of the red ball attached to the Lamborghini): a. b. c. d. e. 0.3 * * i 20 * i+3 * t^2 (note that 2 is equivalent to f * f) int(i) TO * sin(pi * i/2) step(i 2) * 3 * (t 2)

Try some others for the practice. Try to keep the Lamborghini on the screen! When you get a good-looking graph, right-click on it to clone the gra ph and resize it for a better view.

Problems
Problem 1.1 caliper arm to move it Your cursor will change into a little hand when it is over the circle. Once the cursor changes, left- click to drag the object around. The 0 line on the movable arm tells you centimeters and tenths of centimeters. The zero line is almost always between two tenths on the scale.To figure out the hundredths place, you look to find which line on the movable arm matches up with a

During the laboratory portion of your physics class, you will most likely have to measure objects rather precisely. A Vernier caliper is a device that can precisely measure the length of small objects less than about 20 cm long (position units on the caliper are given in centimeters).You read the caliper by placing an object in the caliper, closing the arm of the caliper, and reading off of the scale. Restart. In the animations you are to drag the red circle on the

line on. the fixed scale. The number on the movable scale tells you the hundredths place. The default position of the caliper after clicking Restart is 1.64 cm. Now try it yourself for Animations 1 through 4. What are the lengths of these objects? Note: In Animation 4 you must drag the object in position before you can measure its length. Problem 1.2

What do these two values represent regarding the motion of the toy Lamborghini? When you get a good-looking graph, right-click on it to clone the graph and resize it for a better view. Problem 1.3

b.

Jo^l ill . 40.96 .14

'intercept (on) 1

A toy yellow Lamborghini moves across the screen as shown in the animation (position is given in centimeters and time is given in seconds). Take data from the animation and create a position vs. time graph. To add data to the graph, type your (i, x) data into the text boxes and then click the add datum button. Use the clear graph button to start another graph. Once you have taken enough data (you need more than five datapoints), use the linear regression button to calculate and plot the linear regression. If you later add data, the regression line and values from the table are removed and you must redo' the regression. Restart. a. Report the slope and intercept of the graph.

Use the mouse to drag the rear bumper of the toy monster truck (the red ball). The goal of this exercise is to match the position/velocity/acceleration vs. time graphs as shown in the aiumation (position is given in centimeters and time is given in seconds). There is some smoothing for the velocity and acceleration matching animations. Restart. Answer the following questions after trying to match the motion: a. Which of the graphs was the easiest to match and which one was the hardest to match? b. Why? Base your answer on physics and mathematics. When you get a good good-looking graph, right-click on it to clone the graph and resize it for a better view.