Physics
Cart and pole: swing-up and balance
An inverted pendulum on a cart: energy pumping swings it up, a linear-quadratic regulator holds it upright, and a kick shows how the controller recovers. A double pendulum is the hard mode.
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Makarov Physics Suite
200 interactive modules span mechanics, waves, optics, electromagnetism, quantum phenomena, fluids and thermodynamics. Work with physical objects, inspect detailed 3D apparatus and connect the motion to live measurements.
200 modules · Page 8 / 10
Physics
Kapitza pendulum
A pendulum whose pivot vibrates fast stands upside down: the effective potential grows a well at the top once aω exceeds √(2gl). Change the drive and watch the well open and close.
Physics
Wilberforce pendulum
A spring couples vertical motion to twist. Adjust inertia to match the uncoupled frequencies and observe energy exchange, damping and split normal modes.
Physics
Metronomes in step
Five pendula exchange forces through a moving board. Each has a smooth self-sustaining escapement; mass, detuning and clamping change the measured phase coherence.
Physics
Mechanisms: Geneva, cam, ratchet
Five ideal mechanisms turn rotation into indexing, lift, reciprocation or offset-shaft transmission. Inspect the computed displacement and speed.
Physics
Escapement and the clock
A pendulum regulates an ideal anchor escapement. Event-based impulses replace dissipated energy, while measured tick intervals reveal the dependence on length and amplitude.
Physics
Watt's flyball governor
A nonlinear Watt governor couples a conical pendulum to an engine shaft. Change load, valve gain and damping to observe settling, speed droop and hunting.
Physics
Tesla coil & plasma globe · 3D
Switch between a resonant Tesla coil and a plasma globe. Hold and drag on the glass to concentrate the streamers.
Physics
Magnetic levitation under control
A feedback controller holds a steel ball below an electromagnet. A nonlinear force law, coil lag, current saturation and contact stops make disturbances and loss of control visible.
Physics
Cubli: a cube balancing on its edge
A planar cube balances on an edge using a reaction wheel. Disturb the controller or launch it with a momentum-conserving wheel-brake impulse.
Physics
Why a bicycle stays up
Explore self-stability in the linear Whipple bicycle benchmark. Speed, trail, steering-axis tilt and wheel gyroscopic terms change the freely evolving lean and steer response.
Physics / Engineering
Forklift warehouse
Drive a forklift and transport pallets with loose crates that interact through contact and friction.
Physics / Engineering
Steam engine
An ideal double-acting steam engine couples admission and expansion to a slider-crank and loaded flywheel. Change boiler pressure and cut-off while inspecting the indicator diagram.
Physics / Engineering
Robot arm workshop
Control a six-axis robot arm, grasp physical objects, sort a mixed batch or build a tower. Explore inverse kinematics, joint limits and payload with the suite’s 3D contact solver.
Physics
Ion traps: Penning and Paul
Follow one ion in Penning and Paul quadrupole traps. Resolve cyclotron and axial motion, RF micromotion, stroboscopic samples and loss of confinement.
Physics
Eddy-current brake
A conducting pendulum loses mechanical energy to induced current. Compare solid and slotted plates using a lumped-loop electromagnetic model with an explicit heat budget.
Physics
Rattleback
The averaged Garcia–Hubbard model shows energy exchange between spin, pitch and roll. Change skew and spin direction to observe asymmetric reversal times.
Physics
Bridge flutter
Wind couples bending and torsion in an illustrative bridge-section model. Compare subcritical decay with flutter above the calculated linear threshold and nonlinear amplitude limitation.
Physics / Engineering
Radial engine · 3D
Inspect seven transparent cylinders, master and articulating rods, moving pistons, fuel injection, valves and ignition.
Physics / Engineering
Quadruped terrain lab
Explore four-legged locomotion, terrain, grip and balance with an articulated 3D robot.
Some modules belong to more than one Suite. Shared experiments have one description here.