Mechanics: Physics Simulations 1

These computer simulations for elementary physics have grown out of a desire to utilize the instructional potential of modern inexpensive microcomputers for students to explore the structure of physical models. They are intended as supplemental material for introductory level physics courses.
Particularly useful is the graphics capability of the Macintosh which uses the mouse interface and is capable of high quality animation. The visualizations provided by these simulations develop physical intuition and allow the use of this software over a wide range of mathematical sophistication - from
"Physics for PoetS" to intermediate undergraduate courses.

The development of this software over the last two years would not have been possible without substantial contributions from the Faculty Author Development Program at Stanford University supported through an Apple Corporation grant. Programming support was provided by Sha Xin Wei
(KEPLER and EINSTEIN) and James Terman (BALliSTIC, POTENTIAL and OSCILLATOR ) with Daniel Schroeder participating on EINSTEIN. These applications were written in Pascal and compiled using the Macintosh Workshop environment. Support and encouragement provided by the F.A.D.
staff, including Michael Carter, Ed McGuigan, Barbara Jasinski and Tom Malloy, was greatly appreciated. Early contributions from Brian Penprase were also important. Our goal was to develop simulations with an emphasis on graphics output and ease of use. All controls can be accomplished using only the mouse. And hard copy of any screen display can be obtained using the Print or Print to Disk commands.

This manual explains the use of each applications program. An introductory physics section describes the basis for each of the simulations, and is intended to be used together with an introductory physics textbook. Some elements of the numerical techniques used in the simulations are also presented. To aid in the utilization of these simulations, each section in this manual contains a few exemplary problems for students to solve. The second half of each applications section contains a complete user's guide and a summary of the menu selections.