Push Buttons:

Play=> Runs the experiment from the beginning.

Pause|| Stops the experiment and restarts it when stopped.

<step Steps backwards by 1 clock tick when it is paused. The red dot on the graph line shows you the current value.

Step> Steps forward 1 clock tick when it is paused. The red dot on the graph line shows you the current value.

<<reset Puts the experiment back to the beginning, resets the clock to zero, and sets normal speed. It also turns off the graphing and strobe diagrams to encourage you to predict results before seeing them. Some experiments require you to press reset before you can change variables.

Slower- Slows the experiment

Faster+ Speeds up the experiment

Not every experiment has all of these controls.

Check boxes:

þ Show Strobe This turns on a strobe diagram or motion map. It leaves an image of the object at regular intervals of time. Usually this is done every second.

þ Graph ON This turns on the graphing.

þ Keep Current Graph When checked the current data line is kept, and new data is added on with a separate line. This allows you to easily compare two experiments.

þ Allow reverse Normally the experiment stops when the object comes to a stop. By checking this box the experiment continues and the object can reverse direction.

þ Vectors ON This shows you the vector quantities such as force, velocity, acceleration.

Sliders:

You use these to change variable values. You can change the variable either by moving the slider or by typing in a new value. Some values have limits and can not be set outside the limits.

M (kg) is the mass in kg. You should see extra mass being added to the object.

Vi (m/s) is the initial velocity. This is the velocity of the object at time zero. The green velocity arrow shows you how it increases.

F (N) is the force in newtons. The force arrow shows you how large it is.

E (J) is the energy in joules. The subscript tells specifies gravitational, kinetic, elastic

g (N/kg) is the gravitational constant.

K (N/m) is the spring constant. The spring should be darker as the K is increased.

L0 (m) is the relaxed spring length

Xi (m) is the initial position of the object.

μ is the frictional coefficient. The surface becomes darker as more friction is added

Tmin(s) is the minimum value of time for calculating the area or slope of a graph

Tmax(s) is the maximum value of time for calculating the area or slope of a graph

Radio buttons: ¤

Force scale These select the scale for forces in N/unit. If the scale is 10 and the force arrow is 2.5 units long, the force is 25N. If the scale is 0.2 when the arrow is 2.5 long, the force is 5.0N.

Graph 1 These select which graph is displayed. When you switch graphs, the graph is cleared and you must run the experiment again to see the new graph.

Some experiments allow you to move the object. Put the mouse on the center of the object then press the left mouse button and hold it down. While holding it down drag the object to its new location. This can only be done after Reset has been pressed. At the bottom of window it tells you if the object can be moved.

You can get a fairly exact value for position by clicking on the location you wish to measure. You can also get a more exact data value by clicking on the graph. The numbers tell you the horizontal and vertical locations.

If the graphs have wiggles, this may be improved by running the simulation slower.

The gold arrow shows you the current acceleration, while the green arrow shows you the current velocity. Blue arrows show you the forces.