My Solar System
My Solar System
Name Period
Introduction: Every physics student has had a lot of experience with the force of gravity. Unfortunately, this experience is limited to the interaction between a very large object, the Earth, and much smaller objects that are very close to it. This is a very limited range of the possibilities. Software simulations of gravity allow physics students to explore a variety of other gravitational interactions between objects. These activities are designed to be used with the JAVA applet My Solar System that can be found on the Physics Education Technology (PhET) website at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Directions: Go to the My Solar System simulation on the PhET website and carefully follow the instructions for each activity. Answer the questions and record your results before going on to the next activity. The simulation can be found at this URL: http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/my-solar-system/my-solar-system.swf Activity 1: Look over the start screen. The simulations controls and settings are on the right and simulation inputs are at the bottom. Click on Start to see the outputs in the center and lower right. The paths of the objects in the simulation are displayed along with elapsed time. Click Stop and move the cursor over each object. Its current position and velocity are displayed under the time. Click Start again and write down at least 2 observations about this simulation below.
Activity 2: Click the Show Grid box and make sure that System Centered and Show Traces are checked too. Drag the slider bar all the way to the left for the most accuracy. Click Reset, then change Body 1’s mass to 500 and its x and y position and velocity to 0. Change Body 2’s mass to 30, its x position to 200, and y position and x and y velocity to zero. Reset must always be clicked before changing position and velocity of the current simulation. Write down your prediction for the motion of both Bodies below before clicking Start to find
Name Period
Introduction: Every physics student has had a lot of experience with the force of gravity. Unfortunately, this experience is limited to the interaction between a very large object, the Earth, and much smaller objects that are very close to it. This is a very limited range of the possibilities. Software simulations of gravity allow physics students to explore a variety of other gravitational interactions between objects. These activities are designed to be used with the JAVA applet My Solar System that can be found on the Physics Education Technology (PhET) website at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Directions: Go to the My Solar System simulation on the PhET website and carefully follow the instructions for each activity. Answer the questions and record your results before going on to the next activity. The simulation can be found at this URL: http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/my-solar-system/my-solar-system.swf Activity 1: Look over the start screen. The simulations controls and settings are on the right and simulation inputs are at the bottom. Click on Start to see the outputs in the center and lower right. The paths of the objects in the simulation are displayed along with elapsed time. Click Stop and move the cursor over each object. Its current position and velocity are displayed under the time. Click Start again and write down at least 2 observations about this simulation below.
Activity 2: Click the Show Grid box and make sure that System Centered and Show Traces are checked too. Drag the slider bar all the way to the left for the most accuracy. Click Reset, then change Body 1’s mass to 500 and its x and y position and velocity to 0. Change Body 2’s mass to 30, its x position to 200, and y position and x and y velocity to zero. Reset must always be clicked before changing position and velocity of the current simulation. Write down your prediction for the motion of both Bodies below before clicking Start to find