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Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 12:55 am
by johnson1010
http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/si ... lar_System

you can add planets and set rates, or use the pre-selected sets to watch 2-d planetary orbit simulations.

Newton, if only you could see this.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 5:17 am
by Robert Tulip
This is superb. I've seen a roughly similar one before, I think called gravity simulator. I would like to work out how to illustrate the orbits of the gas giants.

There is a good one here with four stars in stable orbit. Moving the parameter for one just the slightest amount sends them haywire.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:23 am
by johnson1010
i spent like two hours on this the other day.

Creating a new set of stable orbits that lasts for more than ten minutes is an interesting challenge.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 12:28 am
by Robert Tulip
I'm trying to simulate three planets around a star - See here. Will keep tinkering.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:56 am
by Robert Tulip
The sun is 99.8% of the mass of the solar system. If you make the three planets much more than 0.2% of the mass in total they become unstable.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:37 am
by johnson1010
seems like maybe we are the only two here nerdy enough to enjoy this, RT.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:40 pm
by johnson1010
All other orbit animations wish they were this one.

Seriously.

http://www.wimp.com/earthyear/

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:49 pm
by geo
johnson1010 wrote:seems like maybe we are the only two here nerdy enough to enjoy this, RT.
I should have mentioned that I found this to be very cool as well.

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:51 pm
by johnson1010
I'm glad we are in good company!

Re: Planetary orbit simulator. Well, there goes productivity.

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 5:10 pm
by froglipz
There went my afternoon. I had a difficult time getting the third planet in there, I wish I had come back and read the rest of the forum before I spent all that time tinkering with it.... VERY cool, an awesome time killer to be sure ;)